Ilex, ridden to team silver in the 2024 Olympics by McLain Ward, has gone back Bonne Chance Farm so he can once more represent Brazil.
“We are grateful for the opportunity that we were given to ride and compete Ilex to numerous 5-star Grand Prix successes and to bring home the team silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” McLain commented.
“Thank you to Gilberto Sayao and his team at Bonne Chance for this opportunity and supporting our journey to achieve lofty goals. A special thank you to Fabio Leivas da Costa (Ilex’s former rider), Lucia Rivas and Diego Perez Bilbao for their efforts in creating this partnership. Ilex has been a wonderful partner with an exuberant and kind personality and we look forward to seeing his continued success in the sport.”
McLain Ward and Ilex. (Photo © 2025 by Nancy Jaffer)
Ilex will now be ridden by Brazil’s Marlon Modolo Zanotelli, who competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Championships.
Meanwhile, McLain has a sensational new horse in Imperial HBF, formerly ridden by Great Britain’s Tim Gredley. Imperial put in two clear rounds in last month’s Rome Nations Cup, where anchor rider McLain clinched victory for the U.S.