LEIPZIG, Germany--McLain Ward on Contagious moved to the top of the overall standings of the World Cup Final after the second round on April 8, so he leads going into the final round of competition on Sunday, April 10.
McLain Ward on Contagious (Photo by US Equestrian)Ward of Brewster, N.Y., went late in the order following his fifth-place finish in Thursday’s speed round, capitalizing on his opportunity to move up the standings.
All eight U.S. riders will move on to compete in the Final on Sunday.
Ward was clean in the first round Friday in 68.07 seconds, over the challenging course designed by Frank Rothenberger of Germany, which was harder than Thursday’s opening class.
Ward went last in the order in the seven horse jump-off, which was moderately paced, and Ward made quick, efficient work of his round without burning too much energy ahead of Sunday’s Final.
“Our game plan was to try to do just enough to not take too much out of the horse for Sunday, but also not risk having a fence down," said Ward. "He’s a quick horse naturally, so one to two was quick, and I tried to slow in the middle, and I wanted to stay smooth to the last fence, so I was surprised with the time difference, but he’s just a really quick horse.”
“HE'S AN incredible trier because when we first got him, I would say he was a very careful and nice-level Grand Prix horse and truthfully, I didn’t think of him as a championship horse, but he kept developing and building scope,” said McLain of Contagious. “He performed brilliantly last summer at the Olympics, and he’s been just a different horse since then, bigger and stronger.”
Of his 19th FEI World Cup Final appearance, Ward said that he’s been in this position before, and has seen both sides of the coin, from winning his first World Cup Final in 2017 with HH Azur, to falling short with Vicktor to finish fourth in 2002 in Leipzig.
“You take your experiences and use them to help you focus and keep your head right. You need to do your job and the horse needs to be in form, and you need a little bit of fortune to win these championships,” said Ward. “It’s a challenge, but my team will do a great job, and I’m proud of my horse no matter what because he’s performed beautifully and we’ll do our best.”
Aaron Vale of Williston, Fla., on Elusive, is the next highest placed U.S. rider after Ward, with one rail down in 68.40 seconds in Friday’s class.
Vale finished 12th overall in Round II and will move into the Final Round in 17th place.
Katie Dinan of Wellington, Fla., on Brego R’N B was clean with just a single time fault to place her eighth in Round II.
The third and final round of the 2022 FEI Jumping World Cup Final will begin at 2:45 p.m. in Germany, which is 8:45 a.m. EST. on Sunday, April 10.
The top 30 riders from the competition will return to contest the final round.
