Eric Lamaze and John Fleischhacker named "Owner of the Year"

Christian Baillet, chairman of the
Jumping Owners Club, ans FEI first
vice president Sven Holmberg present
the award to Eric Lamaze.
By FEI/Kit Houghton

For the second year running, Eric Lamaze and John Fleischhacker, joint-owners of the 14-year-old bay stallion Hickstead, have been awarded the prestigious Owner of the Year title by the Jumping Owners' Club.

Hickstead and Canadian rider Eric Lamaze continued their superb form to maintain their position as the most successful horse and rider combination in 2009.

Christian Baillet, Cchairman of the Jumping Owners Club, and FEI first vice president Sven Holmberg presented the award to Eric Lamaze. The ceremony took place during the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, USA.

Formed in 2005 and supported by Rolex, the Jumping Owners' Club is an exclusive organisation of international owners which works towards growing the popularity of the sport around the world. It is the only body which represents the views and opinions of owners and works closely alongside the FEI in building the profile and inclusiveness of jumping.

"It’s an honour to win this award for a second time, this has been a great year," said Eric. "I’d like to thank everyone behind us, as without their hard work, much of our success would not have been possible.”

The FEI Owner of the Year Award was created in 2004 to recognise the most successful owner of each year in the discipline of show jumping. To determine the winner, a classification is established for all horse and rider combinations based on points obtained for the Rolex rankings during the calendar year. The owner of the horse of the winning combination receives the award: a bronze sculpture produced by Caroline Wallace and a silver picture frame presented by Rolex. Bruno Meier, chief executive officer of Rolex, presented the frame to Eric Lamaze.

"Hickstead and Eric Lamaze are an outstanding partnership and deserve recognition for their many successes," Christian Baillet added.

Previous winners of this award were John, Pat and Lisa Hales (GBR) for Arko III in 2004 and 2005, Serena Hamberg (AUT) for The Sixth Sense in 2006, Nancy Clark (USA) for Shutterfly in 2007, and Eric Lamaze (CAN) and John Fleischhacker (USA) for Hickstead in 2008.