The 2008 Olympic champion Eric Lamaze (CAN) has welcomed a new Olympic show jumping prospect to his Torrey Pines Stable.

In partnership with Mark and Tara Rein, Lamaze has purchased Dieu Merci van T&L (Toulon x Corrado I), an 11-year-old Belgian Sport Horse stallion, as his Tokyo Olympic prospect. Lamaze had originally brokered the sale of the horse at the end of 2019 to Chris and Thea Stinett’s Heathman Farm LLC of the United States as a top mount for their rider, Ireland’s Cormac Hanley. When Heathman Farm and Hanley parted ways this spring, Stinett asked Lamaze to take the horse back to Europe to sell.

“After the horse came to me in Europe, the more I rode it the more I got an incredible feel from it and wanted to find a way to keep it,” explained Lamaze. “... It is super exciting to have a horse that could potentially represent Canada at next year’s Olympic Games.”

Dieu Merci van T&L was bred in Belgium by Luc Tilleman and has been lightly campaigned at the five-star level. “He’s only 11, and I’m very excited for his future,” said Lamaze. “He is a breeding stallion that already has five and six-year-olds on the ground; I’ve seen some of his babies jump and was blown away.”

Dieu Merci van T&L will continue to be an active breeding stallion, standing at stud at Torrey Pines Stable alongside another recent acquisition, Falco de Tatihou, a five-year-old chestnut Selle Français stallion (Ogrion des Champs x JPC Modesto) also owned in partnership with the Rein Family LLC.