McLain Ward Dashes for the Cash

Speed was the name of the game at the International Polo Club Palm Beach as McLain Ward set the time to beat during the Wellington Turf Tour's 1.40m Grand Prix. Riding Dulien Van De Smeets, owned by Blue Chip Bloodstock, he guided the mare to a double clear effort in 38.802 seconds, leaving 42 contenders to chase his time.

Sarah Segal took an early lead with Zelda as the fog lifted from the field. She guided the mare around the Pierre Jolicouer designed course for a clear first round, then riding to the first of 12 double clear rounds. However, her time of 40.680 seconds would not hold.

“We have brought horses to the Ridge at Wellington nearly every week since they began the series,” Segal said. “It is such a wonderful series, and the field today was definitely bigger. It was a well-designed course that used a lot of single fences, and not so many related distances. It felt much more challenging, and it is much more complicated than the other courses, which is right because we are getting later in the series. It is really a Grand Prix-style course.”

Ward traversed the first round track with ease, riding new mount Dulien Van De Smeets to the top of the leaderboard. The mare is a new mount for Ward, who only began riding her in December. Although she does not have as much experience as some of the other horses on the field, the Ridge at Wellington's Turf Tour was designed for horses to develop and grow. Ward began the jump-off going easy through the first three obstacles, but he opened her stride through the second half, shaving the seconds while still maintaining accuracy. They tripped the timers in 38.802 seconds.

Ward stated, “The mare is very careful, she doesn't have a lot of experience going very fast, so she is still learning to look for her jumps. I thought that 1-2-4 was a little bit of a challenge, but at the end of the jump-off, the wide-open gallop really suited her; she could gallop and stay very careful. At the beginning she wasn't sure, but in the end it was in her box.”