Today marks the start of the Annual Spruce Meadows "National" Tournament, and the staff have had their hands full preparing for the prestigious event.

Peter Grant, Acting Chief Course Designer for the International Division, says he is honoured to have had a hand in designing a legendary course.

" As a fan of show jumping, Spruce Meadows is a legendary venue. I've spent the last 24 or 36 hours thinking about how honoured i am to have done it," he said.

Grant had a major role to play in the design of the course, and says his career as a course designer may not have happened without Spruce Meadows.

"Most of my career, I've been fortunate enough to be involved with Spruce Meadows. I really got my education here and developed as a course designer. I really probably wouldn't have a career without Spruce Meadows," said Grant.

The National is in it's 43rd year and will welcome Olympians, Continental, World Cup and World Champions riders with dreams and aspirations from every level of competition.

"We're trying to find the best trained horse. My mind set when I start designing the course is thinking about the different ways to test the different aspects of horse training," said Grant.

The course designs take into consideration the distance between obstacles and fences, and well as placement of obstacles to test rider and horse training skill. The competition runs June 6th through 10th.

The RBC Grand Prix will take place on Saturday, June 9th at 2 p.m., with prize money in the amount of $500,000.

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