I’ve written this story 12 times over the years since 1999, when McLain took his first grand prix at Devon with Twist du Valon and started a remarkable run as the fan favorite at the venerable show on Philadelphia’s Main Line.
Seven years ago, the $250,000 class was renamed the Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon in honor of the mare who was a two-time winner and McLain’s favorite horse.
McLain salutes his fans as he enters the ring for the awards ceremony. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
She retired at Devon in a moving ceremony that brought tears to thousands of eyes watching around the Dixon Oval. So there’s quite a history at this venue for McLain, and it plays out in cheers that are more heart-felt for him than any other rider.
Last night, McLain had the edge with Contagious as last to go in the field of 20, using that to his advantage in the seven-horse tiebreaker when he went after the 33.57-second mark set by Schuyler Riley on Robin de Ponthual.
He beat it handily aboard his Tokyo Olympics silver medal mount, looking up at the clock to see a time of 32.30 as soon as he landed from the final fence, a massive bright orange oxer over a Liverpool.
The obstacle, which came after a double in a difficult line during the first round, was placed along the rail, often a distraction for the horses. Spectators jammed the grandstand side of the ring eight or nine deep, bursting into a joyous roar with the rest of the capacity crowd as soon as they knew their hero had won.
The crowd always goes wild for McLain’s victory gallops. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“It’s kind of an amazing journey,” marveled McLain, after making it four wins in a row.
“This ring for me has really become like home. I get great energy from the crowd,” he said.
“I feel at home here. I know the ring very well, the little idiosyncrasies of this arena, where the crowd is and things that horses might be distracted by, which is always a factor.
“No matter how many places I go in the world and great experiences I get to have…I love coming back here, I love this crowd and I’m always up for the class. It just seems to break my way.”
But that wasn’t the case Tuesday night, when McLain had a scary moment as Contagious slipped and fell in the jump-off. Both the German sport horse and his rider were fine, though McLain, 46, admitted to being “a little sore. It happens, it’s sport,” he shrugged.
In the grand prix, he thought the first-round course designed for the 4-star by Olaf Petersen Jr. of Germany was “a little bit on the friendly side.”
The “challenging” tiebreaker was “quite big,” with one awkward turn and a tall vertical “in a funny place.”
While Schuyler’s Selle Francais has a longer stride than Contagious, McLain noted, “Contagious is probably a little bit quicker with his feet, so I tried to utilize that to my advantage, not to try to leave out (a stride) to the last as Schuyler did.”
Runner-up Schuyler Riley and Robin de Ponthual. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
He joked that since he was proud he had sold Robin de Ponthual a decade or so ago in his capacity as a dealer, “it was going to be a good night either way.”
Schuyler was understandably happy with placing as she did while up against “the king of Devon.”
“I’m honored to be second. There’s so much history here and it’s always been on everybody’s radar as such a special place to be.
The energy is unreal,” Schuyler said. Robin, she noted, “loves the energy here as well. He jumped his heart out tonight,” she said.
McLain and Schuyler were the only two fault-free in the jump-off. Third place went to the fastest 4-faulter, Mimi Gochman on the Danish-bred Celina BH in 33.12 seconds.
Mimi, at age 17 the youngest competitor in the class, was the show’s Leading Junior Jumper rider last weekend, when she also picked up the division’s style of riding award.
Mimi Gochman, the youngest rider in the grand prix, is already a big time contender at age 17. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Having felt she learned as much as she could from competing in the equitation, she is focusing on the jumpers, and showed last night that she is a match for her older rivals.
“I’m very honored to be in the top three. It’s amazing. I’m really excited,” she said, with a little giggle.
“I think I won (the grand prix) four times before Mimi was born,” Mclain mused.
“It kind of makes you feel old.”
A pillar of every U.S. championship team for years, he hopes to be named to the squad for that event this August in Denmark.
Meanwhile, he plans to take Contagious to Aachen, though he may not jump him in the taxing grand prix there, thinking that wouldn’t be the best prep for the championships. But he did reveal the one competition that he wants to win is that grand prix, and he likely will try it with a different horse.
The Olympic multi-medalist noted he didn’t really think of Contagious as an Olympic ride, but the son of Contagio told another story when he got into the action.
“He’s got the heart of a lion,” McLain observed.
“He fights and fights and fights, and his rider’s a fighter too. So it’s a good combination.”
Down the road, perhaps we’ll see McLain at Devon on one of Sapphire’s offspring. She’s gone now, but there are a few of her foals and clones in the picture, though McLain won’t speculate on their future.
“Some are nice, but they’re young…and it’s too early to tell.”
McLain’s association with Devon goes back to his leadline days in a muddy ring (he has a photo), but he didn’t win then.
“I wasn’t from the Main Line; so no,” he said with a smile.
“I know how it works here.”
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