Six Canadian Riders Get Total of $80,000 To Campaign for Rio Olympic Start

Brittany Fraser and All In competing in the Pan American Games. © 2015 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com.

TORONTO, Aug. 18, 2015–Six Canadian riders will receive funding totaling $80,000 from the Canadian Dressage Athlete Assistance Program to seek to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next summer.

The riders provided funding are Belinda Trussell with Anton, Megan Lane with Caravella, Karen Pavicic with Don Daiquiri, Jacqueline Brooks with D’Niro, Christilot Boylen with Drentano and Brittany Fraser with All In.

Criteria to receive funding for 2015/2016 was that applicants must be Grand Prix riders declaring to ride for Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games, and must have competed at the Grand Prix level of CDI3* and above within the last two years.

At last month’s Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada earned one individual start for the 2016 Olympics but need to add at least two more through world rankings to field a “composite” team at Rio. If the country qualifies one other rider, two individual combinations will be able to start for Canada.

The Canadian Dressage Athlete Assistance Program was set up to receive donations from individuals and corporations to support Canada’s high-performance athletes. The organization awards 100 per cent of all funding to riders.