McLain Ward (USA) using Contagious (FEI/McCool Photographs)
America gained their second consecutive Longines FEI Leaping Nations Cup™ occasion Sunday in San Juan Capistrano (USA), securing a snug victory in entrance of a house crowd at The Oaks Worldwide Grand Prix Subject two weeks after triumphing in Mexico.
The occasion marked the primary Nations Cup occasion held within the state of California, and Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland introduced ahead a powerhouse group that featured Lillie Keenan (Argan de Beliard), Karl Prepare dinner (Kalinka van’t Zorgvliet), Laura Kraut (Dorado), and McLain Ward (Contagious).
The squad delivered. Over Leopoldo Palacios’ (VEN) 1.60m monitor, they completed on a complete rating of 12 faults. Eire completed second (17 faults), with Mexico third (33 faults).
“Qualifying for the Nations Cup [Finals] in Barcelona needed to be a significant precedence, as a result of that’s considered one of two methods left to qualify for the Olympics. We mainly took our ‘A’ group at the start of the yr and break up it in half. We despatched the primary half to Mexico [and came here] with the opposite half,” mentioned Ridland.
All three riders from the U.S.’s silver medal-winning squad from Tokyo have been represented throughout the 2 groups. In Mexico, Kraut delivered three clear rounds when prevailing in a jump-off in opposition to Mexico. In San Juan Capistrano, it was Ward’s flip to paved the way. Ward produced the one double-clear effort on the day aboard his companion from the Tokyo Olympic Video games, Contagious.
“I believed Leopoldo set a really difficult monitor. Once I walked it, I’ve to say I used to be a tiny bit shocked at how massive it was,” Ward mentioned. “However it’s a five-star Nations Cup. There are large penalties to this qualification, and that’s the best way it must be.”
America boasted a snug lead heading into the second spherical, with greater than a rail in hand over Canada. However Eire launched an amazing rally their second time across the course. Neither Andrew Bourns (Sea Topblue), David Blake (Claude), nor Conor Swail (Nadal Hero & DB) touched a pole, ending the spherical with only a single fault added to their scorecard.
That put a better quantity of strain on the house nation, however veterans Kraut and Ward have been clear for the U.S., securing the victory. Not a single U.S. rider incurred greater than 4 faults in a single spherical of competitors.
“When this group of riders that now we have listed here are on kind, it fits us when it’s tougher. So I feel it labored in our favour,” mentioned Ward.
Kraut was the one rider to have additionally competed in Mexico. In that occasion, she rode her Tokyo Olympic Video games mount, Baloutinue. In San Juan Capistrano, she introduced ahead 10-year-old Dorado for his Nations Cup debut.
“I used to be thrilled with him,” Kraut mentioned. “I’ll inform you, within the first spherical, he undoubtedly was impressed. I agree with McLain that the course was rather more tough than I used to be anticipating, and it caught me off guard. [Dorado] was a little bit bit shy from the primary spherical, and he may have shrunk for the second spherical, or he may have grown. He grew and rode round fantastically, like he’d been doing it a very long time.”
With their victory, the US elevated their lead within the North and Central America and Caribbean division; they boast 200 factors. Mexico sits second with 170 factors, and Canada is third (150 factors).
The division concludes in Vancouver (CAN) on 4 June 2023.
By Catie Staszak
