“Who lowered the poles?” the spectacular mare Crusador Z seems to ask her Canadian rider Brian Morton as they soar effortlessly above the wings in the 1.55m PwC Cup showjumping competition at Spruce Meadows, Calgary, earlier this year.
This lovely grey 13-year-old daughter of Chacco-Blue always catches the eye in the ring and you’d be right in thinking she is finding this substantial track far beneath her capabilities as she’s proved to be something of a high-jump specialist in recent times.
She and Brian have now won the ATCO-sponsored six-bar class at her home venue of Spruce Meadows two years running, clearing a final vertical which towered to 1.95m (nearly 6ft5in) in this year’s event (pictured below).
“She’s the queen of over-achieving,” says Brian of the Spruce Meadows-owned mare: “She’s a wonderful horse for this [the six-bar].”
Crusador Z had previously been ridden by Sweden’s Annika Axelsson and Danish showjumper Nikolaj Hein Ruus before 36-year-old Brian made his debut with her in 2020. The pair finished equal-first in the ATCO six-bar in 2021, successfully defending their title this year when sharing the spoils in a three-way tie at the recent Spruce Meadows Masters tournament.
The extravagant grey mare, with scope to burn, dazzled with her athleticism over the imposing line of ever-increasing verticals under the spotlights. Also clearing the fences in the fourth and final jump-off to join Brian and Crusador Z in the winner’s circle were Jens Fredricson of Sweden riding Diarado’s Rose Elith and Kyle King (USA) with Coffee To Go.
“Last year we were figuring out how to do this class and we were a bit nervous,” reveals Brian. “This year I was very confident – I laid a system down and stuck with it and she jumped beautifully today.”
The in-form pair also won the three-star grand prix at Spruce Meadows in June.
Crusador Z’s sire Chacco-Blue has produced plenty more big-jumping offspring, including of course Ben Maher’s Olympic gold medal-winning partner Explosion W, and another who boasts the distinctive Superman jumping style is the chestnut gelding Chalou, who has jumped to great success with his Italian rider Emanuele Gaudiano.
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