Ward HITS’ Million Dollar Man

By Staff Report September 11, 2012

McLain Ward scored his second HITS Pfizer $1 Million win in three years, riding to blue aboard Antares F at the Sept. 9 event in Saugerties, NY. Ward also won the inaugural Pfizer Million aboard Sapphire in 2010. With the tunes of headline act Michael McDonald of Doobie Brothers fame playing in the background, Ward collected a check for a cool $350,000.

Antares, owned by Grant Road Partners LLC, was Ward’s Olympic mount in London. Second-placed Jill Henselwood, of Canada, was also riding her Olympic horse, George.

Ward, who was sidelined with a broken knee for the early part of the year, said that between the injury and prepping for the Olympics, qualifying for the HITS Million was tricky, but it was a class he didn’t want to miss.

“Our schedule was a little unpredictable this year, but I knew that I wanted to be a part of this class and it was a great thing to aim this horse to at the end of his year,” he said at the press conference following the event. “The jumps were beautiful and the course was hard. You needed a real Olympic-caliber horse to jump a lot of those obstacles.”

Ward (Brewster, NY) was one of three riders to produce clear rounds over Olaf Petersen, Jr.’s intimidating track. Petersen tested riders with scope, turns, distances and everything in between. The 14-obstacle course offered several options for both approaches and striding. Particularly challenging was a one-stride to a one-stride triple combination at fence 11. The four-meter wide water element and a long, two-stride double combination early in the course also caught out a lot of contenders.

“I designed this course with a scopey horse in mind, as well as a rider that could solve a lot of technical questions,” Petersen said. “The jumps were beautiful this year, and it was great to see Mclain win again!,” said Sammy Perlman, of Riverstone Farm. “It’s just a riding lesson every time to watch him.”

As with everyone else attending the event, Perlman was thrilled that this year’s big day played out under sunny skies. “It poured the night before the class this year! HITS did a really nice job of making sure the footing stayed intact for the next day’s events.”

The morning saw the final round of the $500,000 Hunter Prix. When the jumpers took to the arena, Ward was only the third in, but his early clear was soon challenged when Jonathan McCrea, who is based in East Windsow, CT, but rides internationally for Ireland, guaranteed a jump-off aboard Colorado. Twenty-six rounds later Henselwood, of Oxford Mills, Ontario, sealed a three-horse jump-off with Brian Gingras’ George.

“Ollie [Petersen] is one of the world’s best course designers and three or four clean was our plan and I think that is just about right for a class of this level,” HITS President and CEO Tom Struzzieri said. “It was just great sport out there today.”

In the jump-off, Ward was the only rider to make it a double-clear, and set the bar high with a time of 39.87 seconds. McCrea and Colorado (owned by Candy Tribble & Windsor Show Stables) picked up 8 faults in a time of 44.01 seconds for third. Second-placed Henselwood had a rail late in the course for four faults in a time of 45.36 seconds.

“He’s a character,” Henselwood said of the 10-year-old George, who qualified for the Pfizer Million on the HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, California this winter. “He has all the scope in the world and I thought I had seen the best that he could jump in London until today. I don’t know if the best course designer in the world could build something this horse couldn’t jump.”

Rounding out the top five was another team Ireland rider, Darragh Kerins of Wellington, Florida with a two time faults in the first round on Lisona, co-owned with Maarten Huygens. Brazilian Olympian Rodrigo Pessoa of Wellington, Florida, finished with a rail in the first round aboard Pessoa Show Stables, LLC’s Winsom.

This marks the third year Pfizer Animal Health has sponsored HITS’ $1 Million class in Saugerties. “We are really interested in revitalizing the whole industry,” Pfizer equine products marketing director Stuart Miekle said. “Events like this attract more people to the sport and that is why we are so invested in it.”

Twenty riders earned ribbons on Sunday afternoon in the Pfizer Million, for the complete results, click here.

For a photographic course walk, click here.

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