This.
You can always put a postit note over Lamaze’s face.
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thank you, you’re right. Hickstead was the true hero!
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good idea 
He came from very little and achieved a lot through hard work and talent in a sport that typically takes a lot of money. He overcame addition. He was an Olympian and a world ranked athlete. He had the fairy tale partnership with Hickstead. He competed through what we thought was a battle with cancer.
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But… he apparently didn’t actually overcome his addiction. And he apparently didn’t have cancer after all.
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Right. I was trying to explain WHY we (Canadians) didn’t question the story as much. We wanted to believe the entire story.
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No one wanted to believe Lance Armstrong cheated his way to 7 Tour de France wins either. (I know he’s not Canadian). At least the cancer part of that story was true.
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This is the article that is linked in that facebook post:
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/horse-dealing-legal-troubles-snowball-for-eric-lamaze/
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“The Chronicle is unable to locate Lamaze to seek comment.”
Yeah, I bet you’re not!
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No kidding. Apparently the people to which he owes money cant find him either.
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It really is amazing people like Eric Lamaze can do things like this and not think it will all come crashing down one day. How does one go about their life like this. Glad justice is being done although I seriously doubt anyone will see amy money from him. Very sad indeed.
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I read through all of this today, and I can think of one ASB trainer in particular, who crows about how he does these things, and several others who aren’t quite as good as he is at this kind of thing. Of course, in the ASB world, the trainers are the judges, and if you pay big bucks for a horse, the group at the top will make sure that the new owner wins at least a few times. It’s incestuous and disgusting.
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Ha. Half the professionals in the horse world do this stuff. They protect each other. It will be interesting to see what comes of these lawsuits now that the clients are starting to really pursue and win them. Maybe suddenly horse sales will become only half as corrupt?
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If owners would clean up the documentation and contracts – actually have documentation and contracts – that’s the first line. That has to become the standard, not the exception.
This whole “we do it differently in the horse world” schtick is a wide open door to chicanery.
Asking for standard business practice is not insulting anyone, or failing to trust. It’s actually protecting everyone, the trainers / deal-makers as well.
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People are too trusting. This sort of thing happens at the lower price range as well.
It isn’t that difficult to pay the owner directly, find out to whom they are paying a commission and make sure is is not the same person that you are paying a commission.
Price of horse and commission always payed separately.
Kentucky has a law against dual agency (thanks to the late Jess Jackson.) Apparently Florida does as well.
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It is often times though that an owner could say "the horse is priced at 200 - put whatever you want on top I want the 200 " and they never think it possible that the price would be increased by %200 or even in the case of Lamaze %500
When an owner doesn’t have access to rich clientele they can easily fold as it’s very often that these people actually NEED the money and WANT to get a sale done .
That being said - Eric Lamaze is trash and I’m glad the world knows . The worst part is I bet he will STILL able to do sales and find clients to fool .
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Let’s not forget that Eric is in good company. Ben Maher also got himself embroiled in some legal trouble through horse sales done in a less than forthright fashion:
Tackeray was purchased from the Phillipses’ Quainton Stud by the Bruheim family’s Nordic Lights Farm of Texas in March, and has been competed by both 20-year-old Eirin Bruheim and her trainer, Lauren Hough in 2013. In a Horse & Hound report on the sale, Emma Phillips was quoted as saying she was unaware of who actually bought Tackeray at the time of the transaction. “It’s all done through agents and trainers, so no we don’t know who has bought him and probably won’t until they bring him out,” Emma said in the Horse & Hound article.
The Phillipses’ suit alleges that Maher pocketed secret profits in five other sales as well—Quirifino (10,000 Euros), Awanti (50,000 Euros), Vigolo (126,000 Euros), Robin Hood (£80,000) and Wonderboy III (£222,496). The Phillipses’ claim could escalate to £1.5 million, with costs. “We did all we could to provide the conditions that led to Ben’s fantastic success at the Olympics last year and now feel broken-hearted and betrayed,” said Emma. They claim Maher used “secret profits” to pay off debts on his barn in England and towards the purchase of a property in Wellington.
He recently (July 2024) resolved this matter with a statement that appears to accept his wrongdoings in all of this.
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Well those non equestrian news articles sure are brutal ! Quite a long read this one but finally a comment from the Canadian federation!
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Equestrian Canada had no business naming him as coach/chef and they knew it. The job description required “high levels of personal and professional integrity” and EC said it
undertook “standard references and pre-engagement vetting process,” including holding interviews, taking letters of support and “additional research.”
The Global article states that at the time he was named chef, “the rulings, costs, interest and liens against Lamaze meant he owed more than $2 million.”
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