When McLain Ward and Sapphire galloped into Raymond James Stadium tonight, Apr. 4, a betting man would have put money on them winning the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational.

In fact, even a cautious man would have slapped a dollar down on that bet. Ward and Sapphire have been on a roll, winning three big-money classes in March. And by the time they went as 32nd to go out of 34 in the Invitational, no one had gone clean.

“I think we were all sitting there, thinking that McLain would go clean and win it,” said Cara Raether. She—and five other riders with 4 faults in the first round—were watching intently. If Ward went clean, he’d win it without a jump-off.

But he didn’t.

Sappphire jumped through a triple combination that had been causing trouble all night like a working hunter, but then she toppled the front rail of an innocuous oxer. The seven four-faulters would jump off since no one could put together a clean first round.

“It just played out weird tonight,” Todd Minikus said.

Canadian rider Jenna Thompson led off for the jump-off. She and Zeke tried a sharp turn back to 6AB, the first two elements of the triple combination. Zeke slammed on the brakes, and the jump-off was still wide-open as she finished with 10 faults in 57.65 seconds.

Charlie Jayne’s frustration was audible as Urbanus took the out the rail at 6B during his jump-off round. They stopped the timers in 52.10 seconds with those 4 faults plus 1 time fault.

Then Minikus took the stage. He and Pavarotti cruised around the twisty, turning jump-off course with efficient ease, but without Minikus’ usual daredevil flair. They promptly set the mark to beat—a clear round in 46.55 seconds. “My plan was to try and be clear, first and foremost,” Minikus said. “I’ve lost so many jump-offs trying to go too fast.”

Raether had her work cut out for her. Ublesco is a big horse, and she’s frequently said he’s not the quickest over the ground. She did everything she could to inspire him to be fleet of foot, and it paid off when the timers stopped with a time faster than Minikus—46.42 seconds—but the second fence in the jump-off had toppled.  Minikus was still in the lead, but she’d proved his time was beatable.

Next up was Chris Kappler on the big mare VDL Oranta. He picked up a quick canter and used Oranta’s long, flowing stride to his every advantage. On landing from the oxer-oxer combination at 6AB, Kappler spun around in a rollback turn that left the crowd gasping. “Man, Chris was slick on that turn,” Minikus said. “That’s where he beat me.”

Oranta didn’t touch a toe to a rail and as the gray mare and Kappler flashed across the finish line, the clock read 43.95 seconds—more than 2 seconds faster than Minikus. “Chris smoked me,” Minikus said.

After British rider James Billington chalked up 8 faults on Midnight Lady, it was all up to Ward and Sapphire again. Ward made it clear he wanted to add another six-figure class to his tally, attempting an inside turn to the difficult oxer-oxer at 6AB that no one else had tried. The risk backfired when Sapphire had rails down at both 6A and B. Their time would be the fastest of the night—43.20 seconds—but the 8 faults would keep them in fifth.

“She was phenomenal tonight,” Kappler said of Oranta, who he’s been riding since 2006. “She was second in this class the first year I rode her and fifth last year. She’s been consistently in the money in most of the classes she’s jumped, but I think this is the first real big win I’ve had with her.” Minikus claimed second, while Raether was thrilled to pick up third place. Jayne would wrap up in fourth.

Kappler had won the Invitational twice before—in 2003 on Royal Kaliber and in 1995 on Seven Wonder. The 1995 course was infamous—Kappler and Seven Wonder were the only ones to jump clear in the first round. There was a bogey fence on course that created a lot of controversy. This year’s lack of a clear first round, however, wasn’t because of any flaw in course design.

“Steve Stephens is an excellent course designer, and he builds to a standard,” Kappler said. “I think this class is typically an Olympic-caliber track. Tonight wasn’t any bigger than normal, or trickier. The triple combination was really scopey, but not unfair.”

The triple combination was where many riders came to grief. Set early in the course at fence 6, the combination was a 4’11” high oxer of 5’3” width at A. Then, after one long stride, was another oxer at B, this one 4’11” high and square, with a width of 5’6”. Then, there was another long stride to a 5’2” vertical. The rails at 6B fell 22 times and a few horses took them out with their bellies.

But rails fell elsewhere, as well—especially in the last line of the course. A tough combination at 13AB was a 5’1” vertical with a liverpool set behind it, two short strides to a 4’11” high and 5’6” wide liverpool oxer. Then, five or six strides later, was the biggest oxer on course, the 5’ square Budweiser oxer set at 5’6” wide.