American rider McLain Ward and HH Azur Launch Campaign to Capture Longines World Cup Final Title

With 11-year-old Azur Garden’s Horse, a Belgian-born mare who is one of the most elite sport horses in the world, Ward captured first place in the ‘Speed Class’, jumping 13 obstacles as high as 1.60 meters in the city’s CenturyLink Center arena. HH Azur and Ward cleared every jump without grazing the slightest rail, finishing in 59.27 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann on Mary Lou and Defending World Cup Champion Steve Guerdat of Switzerland on Bianca. Ireland’s Denis Lynch was 21st on All Star. 

Now Ward, a two-time Olympic Gold medallist for the U.S., will be looking to carry forward the momentum of his opening victory over 36 other riders to Friday evening’s second Jumping class, the ‘Grand Prix’. Everything will culminate on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time in Nebraska with the two-round final event. That will determine the 2017 World Cup Final winner, a championship Guerdat is hoping to claim for the third straight year after triumphs in Las Vegas and Gothenburg, Sweden.

But if McLain Ward — a veteran of numerous World Cup Finals but never a winner — and HH Azur are one of the favourites for this year’s title, the resident of Brewster, New York says he did not start off being very good in the sport: “Unfortunately, I wasn’t very talented, so riding didn’t come to me very easily.” Nor was his partnership with HH Azur, whom he has called ‘something special, something brilliant’, a straightforward affair — Ward passed on acquiring the horse when she was a wild 5-year-old and only came back to her when she was eight.

As for the public in the stands at the CenturyLink, watching Ward, Guerdat and the other world-class horses and riders at the World Cup Final is something special in itself. “In the United States we read about a lot of these Europeans, but we don’t get to see them in person, so it’s very, very exciting to get to see them up close and personal,” Peg O’Meara of Missouri told the Omaha World-Herald. “I think it’s great that it’s here in Nebraska. It’s very accessible for those of us in the middle part of the country who often don’t see this level of sport. That tends to be East or West Coast.”

Cathy White, an amateur rider herself, also spoke to the newspaper: “Normally I would have to go to Europe to see these horses,” she said. “This is such an elite level — you never see this in person. It’s just such a rare opportunity. To see your heroes and the people you look up to is a real treat — this is better than the Super Bowl!”