Ward, Rothchild, Alltech $75K

By Staff Report November 4, 2011

McLain Ward and Rothchild won the $75,000 Double H Farm International Open Jumper class Thursday at the Alltech National Horse Show, 128th Edition. Ward posted a double clear effort and a zippy jump-off time of 36.10 seconds to claim the victory over 14 of 35 entries that made it to round two.

Pan American Individual and Team Gold Medalist Christine McCrea (East Windsor, CT) was second aboard Avenir with a fault-free effort in 37.72 seconds, while Lauren Hough and Quick Study, owned by Laura Mateo, were third after setting the pace at a clean 37.73 seconds.

“I don’t think Richard wanted that many clear, but he probably wanted to have a nice confident class for the horses going into a very big Grand Prix in two nights,” Ward said, estimating that course designer Richard Jeffery “probably expected 10, but it’s a great group of horses here and a great group of riders. The footing is phenomenal so the horses really jump off of it. There is also a considerable amount of prize money on the line, so I think people are trying to be on their game, and [this] is the result when that happens. It’s a pretty high level of competition.”

Jeffery challenged riders with 15 obstacles in round one, including an oxer-vertical double combination, a triple bar-oxer double combination, and a final vertical-vertical double combination going towards the gate. For the 14 who cleared it, the tiebreaker proved to be a far more difficult task. The jump-off began with an oxer-vertical bending line followed by the oxer-vertical double combination. Riders then made a tight inside turn to a tall vertical before making a bending line across the middle. They finally turned left and headed home over a wide oxer.

With three fantastic efforts starting the short course, it became a game of catch-up for the riders that followed, but they were not able to master the plan. Hough and Quick Study, who were the first to go clear in round one, managed to leave all the rails untouched and crossed the finish line at 37.73 seconds, setting a pace that eventually earned them third. McCrea and Avenir were next and they just barely edged Hough out of the lead, breaking the beam at 37.72 seconds and garnering the second place award.

Ward was hungry for a victory following a second place finish last night. Using a tight inside turn after the double combination, and leaving out a stride across the middle, the duo quickly jumped to the top of the leaderboard. Each fence remained intact and they blazed across the finish line in 36.10 seconds, an unmatchable effort that scored the lion share of the final prize.

“I was little upset to get beat last night,” admitted Ward. “Todd [Minikus] had a great round, but I actually thought I had done enough when I went, and obviously I hadn’t. That definitely factored into tonight a little bit; I wanted to press it a little bit harder.” He described Rothchild, owned by Sagamore Farm of Oyster Bay, NY, as “a fast little horse” with a big stride. “He felt like he was jumping well so it felt like a good time to take a bit of a risk. With 14 or 15 clear you can’t really leave a lot on the table. It worked out. Actually, sometimes in those classes it is better to go early you kind of do the best you can and then the other people come to chase you and make mistakes.”

McCrea said she “went as fast as I could go, but I added a stride down the line in the middle. I did nine and McLain did seven. He’s insane! I didn’t see seven, but I wish I would have done one less there. Avenir was jumping great and he was turning right with me, so he made it easy. He is a super fast, intense, hot horse, so I have to really be careful with him not to push his buttons too much. I have to be a little bit gentle with him.”

Lucy Davis of Los Angeles, CA, and Old Oak Farm’s Nemo 119 eventually placed fourth after going seventh in the return order and producing the only other fault-free effort. They stopped the clock at a more conservative 41.89 seconds for the red ribbon. Fellow Californian Saer Coulter, of San Francisco, didn’t lower the height of any fences on Victory Da, but their careful effort proved taxing on the clock, incurring two time faults after clocking at 43.92 seconds for fifth place.

 

$75,000 Double H Farm Open Jumpers Results:

1  Rothchild          McLain Ward       0/0          36.100

2  Avenir                Christine McCrea                0/0          37.720

3  Quick Study     Lauren Hough      0/0          37.730

4  Nemo 119         Lucy Davis           0/0          41.890

5  Victory Da        Saer Coulter          0/3          40.000

6  Mika  Reed Kessler         0/4          37.190

7  Madison            Alexa Pessoa        0.4          37.690

8  Ahorn Van De Zuuthoeve             Richie Moloney   0/4          37.890

9  Athena              Charlie Jayne       0/4          39.250

10 Urban               Blythe Marano    0/4          40.070

11 Let’s Fly           Rodrigo Pessoa    0/4         40.180

12 Sweetheart      Todd Minikus       0/8          35.620

 

For more information about the 2011 Alltech National Horse Show, 128th Edition, please visit www.nhs.org.

 

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