As is so often the case, team anchor McLain Ward produced a must-do clean round to clinch victory for the USA in the $150,000 FEI Nations Cup Wellington Saturday night.
USA center stage on the podium with second-place Ireland (left) and third-place Canada
This time, however, the stress was on from several directions. But if anyone has mileage sufficient to handle such challenges, it’s McLain. Even so, several factors made the situation more intense than usual.
The U.S. had won the country’s only Nations Cup 10 times previously, which meant history exerted expectations for the eight-team match.
As Coach Robert Ridland put it, “This is always an interesting Nations Cup because the pressure is on us to win. It’s a home Nations Cup; it’s a really big deal.”
And McLain’s mount, Jordan Molga M, is relatively new to him. How would he react to the electricity of an arena surrounded by a capacity crowd that cheered loudest for the Americans?
In the first round, McLain had a decision to make after his teammates produced three clears over the Steve Stephens team-designed 4-star course. His initial effort wasn’t needed, since only three scores count in each round.
He considered going in the first round and just jumping the first line of fences to give the horse a look-see, which could have worked, since that round wouldn’t affect the score.
McLain’s student, Stella Wasserman, began riding Jordan, a 12-year-old Dutchbred, last September, taking over from Nicolas Delmotte of France.
But it wasn’t the perfect match, so McLain traded one of his horses with Stella, picked up Jordan and started showing the horse in December.
McLain Ward and Jordan Molga M
He had yet to log a victory with Jordan. And the gelding had never shown under the lights at Wellington International.
“He’s a very, very sharp horse,” said, noting he was gelded late and “has a little bit of almost stallion energy.
“With a new horse that’s sharp like that, you always want to monitor and make sure you make safe choices. That’s why I was flirting back and forth whether I should jump the first round or part of it.”
In making his decision to skip the opening round, McLain noted that while Jordan is green, he’s “answering every question I asked well.”
So he took a risk and passed on the first round, introducing the horse to the buzzy scene when it really counted in the second round of the class presented by Florida Coast Equipment.
Although teammates Marilyn Little (La Contessa) and Callie Schott (Garant) had turned in clear trips in both rounds, on his second appearance, Karl Cook and Caracole de la Roque uncharacteristically tumbled a rail at the A element of the triple combination, which meant the outcome was all up to McLain.
Before he entered the arena, the U.S. was looking at the prospect of a 4-fault tie with Ireland after that country’s Shane Sweetnam dropped a rail at the last fence. Coach Ridland planned ahead for a worst-case scenario if McLain had a knockdown, and already had decided to send in Karl as the designated rider on his speedy mount if a jump-off to break a 4-fault tie was needed.
But McLain came through in classic style to secure the win. Ireland settled for silver with four faults in the eight-team competition, while Canada collected the bronze on eight.
Although he is comfortable as the anchor when that role really counts, McLain conceded that this time, “I think I felt more pressure because it’s a new relationship with this horse,” he commented noting Jordan, owned by Michael Smith, has championship potential.
The winning U.S. team: McLain Ward, Callie Schott, Marilyn Little, Karl Cook and Coach Robert Ridland.
McLain is always quick to give credit to others, which demonstrates how he works well with them.
“I’m very lucky to have such a strong team—they put me in a pretty nice position,” he said.
McLain’s daughters, Lilly and Madison, showed up to support him at the post-competition press conference.
As the coach noted, “Our two double clears, just phenomenal. That’s the way you win Nations Cups, with double-clears.”
Callie Schott was double-clear on Garant in her first Nations Cup appearance at home.
While he discussed strategy, Robert noted it’s still quite early in the season which includes, importantly, a world championships.
“We’re trying to put the pieces together for the long haul, and it worked,” he pointed out with a smile.
Marilyn Little and Contessa were double clear.
“To a degree, this is the beginning of the year, so things start ramping up. You can’t do everything at the end,”
Of the Wellington effort, he said, “This will have played a role for sure,” then added, “More important is what a great event this is. It’s great for the public.”
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