The 30th try was the lucky one. After decades of frustration, McLain Ward finally won the $100,000 Grand Prix de Penn National Saturday night at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.
His lack of success in the class had become a running joke with McLain and his friends, but he had the last laugh as he and First Lady caught Rodrigo Pessoa, the class leader to that point with Quality FZ on a clocking of 34.883 seconds.
McLain Ward and First Lady. (Photo by Andrew Ryback)
“I went in with the thought to try to push the envelope a little bit and catch him and it worked out, said McLain, timed in 34.638 on the mare owned by Robiin Parsky.
Third and fourth places went to Beat Mandli aboard Dijon Terdoorn Z and Chartraine Pre Noir, respectively, while Katie Dinan accounted for fifth and sixth with Brego R’N B and Atika des Hauts Vents.
McLain has been riding the 9-year-old Oldenburg mare, for the past two years, but this week marked the pair’s first time competing together indoors.
“That’s one of the reasons we brought her here, to get her some experience and prep here for next season, and obviously she stepped up beautifully,” explained McLain.
“She’s feisty, but has a tremendous amount of quality; she’s still inexperienced, but she has a lot of heart.”