McLain Ward and HH Azur repeated the dose by overcoming their rivals in the second leg of the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Final II. (Photo © Cara Grimshaw / FEI)
For the second consecutive day US Olympic medalist McLain Ward took the win, following the Longines FEI World Cup Final Jumping in Omaha.
A prophet in his own land, Ward settled his opponents in a simply perfect and unbeatable tiebreaker, after stopping the clock in 36.87 seconds with 11-year-old mare HH Azur (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve x Sir Lui vd Zuuthoeve) owned by Double H Farm & Francois Mathy. This time the field designed by Irish Alan Wade had a total of 33 pairs and pass 6 to the tiebreaker, in a Second Leg that distributed €150,000 and under effusive support from the public at the Centurylink Center, McLain was awarded a prize of €34,500 plus 100 World Ranking points.
For second place Gregory Wathelet of Belgium tried to follow the winner, but completed his court in 39.39 seconds with 12-year-old gelding Forlap (Querlybet Hero x Heartbreaker), escorted in the third by Swiss Romain Duguet and 10-year-old mare Twentutwo des Biches (Mylord Carthago x Kalor du Bocage) with a time of 40.46 seconds, while completing the Top 5 in the fourth place Martin Fuchs of Switzerland in 44.01 seconds with 11-year-old gelding Clooney (Cornet Obolensky x Ferragamo) and fifth Marcus Ehning of Germany demolished two rails to totaling 8 faults in 39.56 seconds with 14-year-old gelding Pret A Tout (Hiram Chambertin x Stew Boy).
For the Latin Ranking the Uruguayan Martín Rodríguez Vanni took the 31st position, completing his course in great total of 28 fouls with 12-year-old gelding Liborius (Quiality x Landadel).
McLain Ward’s first-place finish clear with a total of 76 points, followed by Switzerland’s Romain Duguet with 4 fouls and 67 points, third-seeded Henrik von Eckemann with 8 fouls and 59 points, Martin Fuchs with 9 fouls plus 65 points was fourth and Sergio Alvarez Moya of Spain fifth also accumulating 9 fouls, but with 57 points.
