McLain Ward, who was hoping to be only the second person to win the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, had two of the first three fences down today in the Rolex Grand Prix at the Aachen horse show in Germany and retired from the class.
McLain Ward retired from the Rolex Grand Prix after two fences down in the first three at Aachen.
He was aboard HH Azur, on whom he won the first two legs of the Grand Slam in Geneva and at the Dutch Masters. But with no chance of making the cut to be in the top 18 for the second round this afternoon, there wasn’t any point in continuing in the class with the mare who had given him so much over the years.
Obviously, he was disappointed.
“You certainly come with high hopes,” he pointed out.
A victory would have meant 1,500,000 Euros, a combination of the prize money an a bonus that has been won just once before, in 2015 by British rider Scott Brash. But even more important, it would have captured his “white whale,” a victory that has eluded him in this most prestigious of grands prix.
It seemed HH Azur, at 17, just wasn’t up to the challenge at this point in her life.
“We really thought she was going to retire a couple of years ago. She’s had this kind of rebirth the last 18 months. It has been just this incredible ride,” he mused.
“I knew it was going to come to an end somewhere, and maybe I didn’t just quite believe enough today.”
He added, “I knew we were kind of on the last gasp and she always just seems to be able to pull something magical out. I probably didn’t ride her also 100 percent like I believed she had all the energy to do it. It’s disappointing, but I don’t think it takes away anything from her incredible career and what a partner she’s been.”
What’s next? He’s thinking about the Paris Olympics next year.
“You move forward. We have some exciting young horses coming up.”
Meanwhile, he’s grateful for his partnership with the mare, whom he fondly calls Annie.
“I said to my daughter when she was crying today, we’re only the second person that’s ever been in this position and we’ll continue to fight on and be proud of the work we’ve done,” McLain noted.
Now the mare is ready for the next stage of her life.
McLain and HH Azur on their way to the World Cup title in 2017. (Photo © 2017 by Nancy Jaffer)
“I think Annie means a lot to the entire equestrian community, the fans of show jumping and particularly the U.S. She really is a queen. We’re all very grateful to be in Annie’s life and she’s going to have a wonderful retirement and probably a few more babies,” McLain concluded.
Later in the day, McLain wrote this letter to Annie and put it on his Facebook page: