USA Fourth and Sixth in Grand Prix of Aachen, Sapphire Declared Horse of the Show
Equestrian News Release
Ward Wins Morning Feature with Goldika
AACHEN, Germany - Aug. 28 – As a crowning achievement for a superb United States team performance at the World Equestrian Festival, Sapphire, owned by the Double H Farm, was declared Horse of the Show Sunday.
The award was made after Sapphire, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood, carried McLain Ward of Brewster, New York through two clear rounds to make the jump-off of the $300,000 Prize Of Aachen Münchener, The Grand Prix of Aachen. The pair finished fourth and picked up prize money of $28,000.
Last Friday, Sapphire was Ward’s mount in jumping two clear rounds to lead the United States to triumph in the seventh Samsung Super League event, one of eight premier international show jumping competitions. The Super League pits eight top nations against each other in Nations Cup formatted competitions. As one of only two riders with double clear rounds and with Ward suffering a broken collar bone, the American rider has become a crowd and media sensation in Europe.
“An amazing horse,” Ward said. “Basically, she has been carrying me around. To be named horse of a show where you have the best 40 horses and riders in the world is very special. She gets two days off before she goes to Calgary for Spruce Meadows, where she’ll meet up with her owners, the Harrison family,” Ward revealed.
Ward, who said that he had come to Aachen rusty after three weeks off since suffering the collar bone break a month ago, admitted that his shoulder “hurts like hell,” but the success of Sapphire and his win with Goldika in the morning class on Sunday was worth the pain.
Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, New York, on Abigail Wexner’s Authentic finished in sixth place in the Grand Prix of Aachen, while Jeffery Welles of Ridgefield, Connecticut, on Armani, owned by Kimmel Yeager Equine, finished 18th. Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Anthem, owned by Summit Syndicate, wound up 25th.
Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum rode Shutterfly, the 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding that she owns with the Octavia Farms LLC, to the well received victory in the Prize of Aachen Münchener, The Grand Prix of Aachen.
Official Results - Prize of Aachen Münchener, The Grand Prix of Aachen.
Jumping Competition with two rounds and jump-off
1 - SHUTTERFLY – HANN -Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (GER) - (0) 41.31 JumpOff
2 - CLINTON – HOLST - Dirk Demeersman (BEL) (0) 41.85 Jump-Off
3 - CAVALOR CUMANO – HOLST -Jos Lansink (BEL) -(0) 42.39 Jump-Off
4 - SAPPHIRE – BWP - McLain Ward (USA)Double H Farm (4) 42.04 Jump-Off
5 - TIJL VAN HET PALLIETERLAND – BWP - Steve Guerdat (SUI) (2) 91.20
6 - AUTHENTIC – KWPN-Beezie Madden (USA) Abigail Wexner (4) 81.92
USA’s Ward Wins Again on Sunday Morning at Aachen
McLain Ward of the United States put aside efforts to compensate for a broken collar bone and let his horse take charge on Sunday to win the Preis der Miele jumping competition on the final day of the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany.
Ward of Brewster, New York, said that Goldika, a 13-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by Double H Farm, had been trying to win all week at Aachen, “but I’ve been getting in her way,” Ward said. “Finally, today I was able to stay out of her way, so she could do what she wanted to do, win.”
Despite the broken right collar bone sustained a month ago, Ward cut short his convalescence to re-join the U.S. team which two days ago won the seventh Samsung Super League event. That victory vaulted the Americans to the top of the leader board with only one more competition, in Barcelona, Spain, on September 16th.
Kim Prince of Hume, Virginia, finished in ninth place on Couletto K James, a nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Katherine Miracle.
Ward and Goldika negotiated the 11-obstacle course in 37.29 seconds with no faults to take first prize of $6,100.
Ward’s U.S. teammate, Jeffery Welles of Ridgefield, Connecticut, came up short in his effort to win the final of the Sparkassen Youngsters Cup for seven and eight-year-old horses.
Welles and Sampras, an eight-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Abigail Wexner, had dominated the two qualifying classes, winning one and placing second. However, in the third and final phase the pair knocked down three rails to finish in 20th place.
Sampras and Welles finished tied with Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil on Loriot for fifth place overall.
Official Results - Prize of MIELE & Cie. KG
Jumping Competition with one round and one winning round
1 - GOLDIKA – HOLST -McLain Ward (USA) Double H Farm (0) 37.29 Jump-Off
2 - CORINO – HOLST Bernardo Alves (BRA) (0) 37.99 Jump-Off
3 - KILLOSSERY – ISH -Shane Carey (IRL) (0) 38.08 Jump-Off
4 - KONNI – SANH -Mylene Diederichsmeier (GER) (0) 40.80 Jump-Off
5 - WHINNEY JACKSON – KWPN-Billy Twomey (IRL) (0) 40.98 Jump-Off
6 - L.B. TAMINA – BWP - Christina Liebherr (SUI) (0) 41.43 Jump-Off
U.S. Dressage Riders Complete German Competition
U.S. dressage rider Steffen Peters and 15-year-old Westphalien gelding Floriano finished in the top 10 after the musical freestyle on Sunday at the World Equestrian Festival.
Peters of San Diego, California, was the highest placed U.S. team member, finishing ninth in the Grand Prix Freestyle with 75.15 percent, but based on earlier performances in the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special, the pair’s overall ranking was eighth out of 37 horse and rider combinations from 13 countries. U.S. riders Leslie Morse of Los Angeles, California, with her World Cup Final mount Kingston, and George Williams of Delaware, Ohio with Rocher also made the final of the individual competition. Morse finished 12th overall and Williams was in 15th place.
Jan Brink of Sweden rode Bjorsells Briar, the 14-year-old stallion that he competed in the Las Vegas World Cup Final, and was the clear overall winner. The pair’s freestyle test on Sunday was confident and flawless and received an impressive score of 82.70 percent, well ahead of Olympic and World Cup champion Anky van Grunsven and Keltec Salinero, who were scored at 81.525 percent.
Peters said of his ride that Floriano was “quite excited” before the test, but held himself together in the test. The test was the first U.S. team competition for the horse.
“Although we had a few small mistakes through the ride,” he said, “the judges said the test showed real harmony and lack of tension. The judges reacted well to one particular sequence showing extended canter to piaffe to walk.”
Laurie Browning, Floriano’s owner, and her son, Stephen, said they were “ecstatic” to be involved in the whole Aachen experience.
The United States riders are competing in Aachen with the help of grants from the United States Equestrian Team Foundation.
Your contributions to the United States Equestrian Team Foundation support America’s High Performance athletes at international competitions. Please contribute online at http://www.uset.org.
Visit the official website of the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany at: http://www.chioaachen.de or for unique and up to the minute coverage visit Towerheads at: http://www.towerheads.com
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