NORTH SALEM, N.Y.--Mclain Ward is on a roll as he won his third consecutive class on Saturdaay, May 20 at Old Salem, this time on Catoki.

McLain Ward on Catoki (Photo by SEL Photography)There were some scratches due to rain, but the featured $38,700 FEI 1.45m Jump-off still had 29 entries from five countries competing over Alan Wade’s 15-effort course.

Six were clean in the first round,but only five returned for the jump-off, where McLain Ward won on his speed specialist Catoki.

 Ward had placed second in Thursday’s $38,700, 1.45m Two-Phase class before his three consecutive victories on Friday and Saturday.

Riding Catoki, Ward finished in 33.770 seconds to win the $38,700 FEI 1.45m Jump-off class, just 0.110 seconds ahead of Colombia’s Mark Bluman.

 

“THIS IS kind of Catoki’s thing, aiming for the top of these ranking classes,” Ward said. “Today, I liked that there was a jump-off to give us that element of speed, despite the rain. I thought he performed great, especially because I didn’t feel like it was a great jump-off course for him. There were some long runs to the verticals, and I like to keep him on a shorter stride, but I thought he handled it well. He responded beautifully to every ask I made and gave me his best.”

Only Jordan Coyle of Ireland on Centriko Volo was able to beat Ward’s time, finishing in 30.950 seconds, but he had a rail down to finish fifth place on four faults.

Bluman finished second in a time of 33.880 seconds on Marilyn, and Molly Ashe Cawley was third on Berdien,also clean in 36.730 seconds, while Jonathan Corrigan of Ireland was fourth in 38.590 seconds on Nadal VD Wateringhoeve.

Due to Saturday’s heavy rain, the Governor’s Perpetual Hunt Seat Cup was postponed to Sunday and the National Hunter Derby was canceled.