He didn’t win either of the two grand prix classes on the weekend, but McLain Ward wasn’t complaining. With two second-placed finishes aboard Sapphire, he walked away with the Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship from the National Horse Show, held Nov. 29-Dec. 3 in Wellington, Fla.

Ward and Sapphire nipped into second in the $50,000 Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship Round 1 CSI-W held on Friday night, while Belgian rider Eric Flameng won on Roxanne. And then, they repeated their red-ribbon effort on Sunday afternoon in the $50,000 Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship Round 2, bested only by Margie Engle on Hidden Creek’s Wapino.

The two placings put them into the national championship, for a Rolex watch and $15,000 bonus. “My horse was wonderful. She’s an amazing horse. My goal was to be U.S. Open cham-pion,” Ward said.

The title capped a phenomenal year for Ward and Sapphire, which included a silver team medal from the World Equestrian Games (Germany). The results are all the sweeter, since in April, Ward parted ways with former owner Hunter Harrison and was in danger of losing the ride on Sapphire.

“When we bought Sapphire earlier in the year, a dear friend of mine, Thomas Grossman, was instrumental in helping me do it,” Ward said. “He and I are going to share this Rolex–he made it pos- sible for her to stay at home. It’s a nice way to end the year for a man who was there when I needed him.”

Second place in the World Cup-qualifying class should cement Ward a place in the FEI Rolex World Cup Finals (Nev.) in April, so he’ll give Sapphire a nice vacation until March.

The Right Plan Pays Off
World Cup points weren’t really on Flameng’s mind after he topped the Friday night grand prix. He was dancing in his chair, overjoyed at the victory itself. “It’s very exciting!” he said.

Flameng had been the trail-blazer clear round as first to go out of 32 starters in the first round, held under the lights in the grass field of the Internationale Arena. And, that meant he would be the first of the seven clear rounds to jump off against the clock.

“No one likes to go first, but sometimes you have to do it,” Flameng said. “The course was tough enough, especially with the lights. I thought my mare wouldn’t like the lights, but actually she was really good.”

Flameng set a steady pace in the jump-off, jumping clear in 37.92 seconds. “She’s not a particularly fast mare. I just tried to do what it was possible for us to do in the jump-off,” he said.

The strategy worked, as no other rider could leave all the jumps up. The bogey fence was a one-stride vertical-oxer combination in the jump-off. Riders sliced the rollback turn to the fence, but paid for saving time when the back rail of the oxer kept falling. That rail fell for every other jump-off rider.

Todd Minikus and Olinda fell victim to just this scenario. “I think I cheated Olinda out of a win. In a couple of the jump-offs that she’s been in, she’s been a little bit aggressive in the combinations and had the front rail going in. So, I kind of protected the front rail and didn’t leg her enough for the oxer out. She had the lightest rub of all coming out of there,” Minikus said. Their four-fault score in 35.47 seconds put them into third in the end.

Ward and Sapphire also caught that back rail. “One of these days, maybe I’ll stop letting Sapphire down,” Ward said. “I took my spurs off before the jump-off. She jumped amazingly in the first round, but she also felt a little bit fresh. Then, I went to leg her in the jump-off, and she went up so high over the fence, instead of forward. I think I made a little bit of a tactical error.”

Ward’s four-fault score in 35.30 was the quickest of the night, giving him the red ribbon. And Flameng’s strategy worked to perfection. “Eric is a very smart rider, and he did the right thing. He put in a solid, efficient round and put pressure on us, and we all folded a little bit,” Ward said.

Taking A Shot
While Friday night’s jump-off was all about the clear round, in Sunday’s $50,000 Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship, speed was the name of the game. And Engle and Hidden Creek’s Wapino proved fastest, topping her WEG teammates Ward and Laura Kraut on Miss Independent, and also Ken Berkley on Carlos Boy. Engle also retired the prestigious leading inter-national rider trophy.

She’ll add it to her collection, since earlier in the week she retired the Las Marismas Challenge Trophy after winning the National Horse Show Speed Classic aboard Wapino.

“This is the first week that I’ve done Wapino in the speeds, and he handled it really well,” Engle said. “There weren’t many in the jump-off, so I figured I had nothing to lose and I took a shot. Normally he’s a slower horse, but he’s learning to get quicker. He covers a lot of ground, with a big step, and for a big horse, he turns fantastically. You can turn back to things very sharply. I really turned back hard to the second vertical, and I caught a flyer there, but he set up beautifully for it.”

Ward made a concerted effort to chase Engle, but Sapphire just didn’t have the turn of foot to get it done. “Sapphire isn’t the fastest horse in the world, so I was a little bit concerned,” Ward said. “But I was trying to win. I just went as fast as I could. I knew I had the overall championship, so I knew I had nothing to lose to try and win the class. She was just a little faster on the day.”

Berkley had gone first on Carlos Boy and posted a quick trip, but they had the front rail of the last oxer down. Kraut kept that in her mind as she went in on Miss Independent.

“I knew it would be hard to outrun Margie and McLain, and I saw Ken barrel down and have the last jump down, so I think I rode a little conservatively. I just really wanted to go clear and quick enough to make Margie and McLain run,” she said.

Minikus and Olinda finished in fifth as the fastest four-fault first round in this class, earning them the reserve national championship behind Ward and Sapphire.

One More Try
Cara Cheska came to the National Horse Show leading the East Coast division of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic Series standings. And she clinched the title with a thrilling win aboard My Fair Lady in the final of the series.

“I’m just really happy for the horse. I seem to always disappoint myself when I set goals, and I just really wanted to do well here,” Cheska said. “I’ve been coming here a couple of years and haven’t done well. Instead of just saying ‘Oh well’ and giving the horse a break and starting back up in January, I decided to give it one more try. And it paid off!”

Cheska, of Waukesha, Wis., had to work for the win. The two Jacobs brothers, Charlie and Louis, had set the pace with their mares, Pia and Kachina, and stood first and second. Cheska had to really run to upset the Jacobs dynasty.

But My Fair Lady, a former grand prix mount of Aaron Vale’s, was up for the challenge. “She never lets me down when I ask her to do something a little bit crazy. I saw Louis go, and he was very fast. I know my mare’s fast, but if I get running, I can run her into a rail. I just went as fast as I could. I didn’t know if I was faster, but in the air over the last jump, I was staring at the scoreboard. I was afraid it was going to say 4 faults, but it flashed that I was in first, and I was so happy,” she said.

Cheska bought My Fair Lady in April. The 11-year-old Oldenburg mare had won five grand prix classes with Vale in 2005. “She was used to him, and we ride so different. He is a genius, and he’s so effective,” Cheska said.

“I wasn’t sure I could fill his stirrups, being so much smaller and an amateur. It took us a few shows to figure each other out. She’s quite a tense mare, and she can be a little bit spooky and quirky, but once you know her, she’s not hard.”

Julie Welles celebrated her last outing as a junior rider by winning the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior Jumper Series final with Felix des Noues. “The Maclay finals [in New York in November] really felt like the end of my junior time, since the equitation doesn’t go on. But winning my last junior class ever was kind of special,” Welles said.

Welles, who won the USEF Show Jumping Talent Search Finals-East (N.J.) and the Washington International Equitation Classic Finals (D.C.) in 2005, and placed second in both the Pessoa/USEF Medal Finals (Pa.) and the ASPCA Maclay Finals (N.Y.) this year, will continue riding as a professional for trainer Missy Clark.

“I feel like I’ve been a junior so long, it’s a good change. I’m looking forward to it,” she said. She’s not sure if she’ll keep riding Felix. “He’s definitely different from any other horse I’ve ridden. But once you get the hang of him, it all clicks and it’s easy,” she said.

“I’ll walk the course, and see that there’s an option to leave out a stride, and I’ll know that I can add a stride there because he’s got such a cat-like stride. He’s definitely a special one. I’ve been riding him for almost a year now, and I don’t normally get to ride horses that consistently. We’ve gotten a relationship, and he’s really developed a personality.”

Stewart Stays In Front In Hunter Championship
Scott Stewart made history last year at the National Horse Show, winning the championships in all five of the professional hunter divisions. This year, he fell slightly short of that mark, earning four championships. But he won a class that has previously eluded him–the $24,000 National Horse Show Open Hunter Championship.

Stewart earned the title on his own Beyond, who had claimed the regular working hunter tricolor earlier in the week. He also showed Good Life, the grand hunter and regular working hunter champion, to third place, and took fifth through eighth places with Apollo, Dynamic, Banner and Farewell. Ken Smith rode Susan Stanley’s Cosmo to second place.

Stewart was pleased with Beyond, a striking black gelding. “I’ve had him three years, and he’s been reserve at Devon [Pa.] twice. In years before, he’s gone out onto this field and woken up a little bit, but this year he was really relaxed. He used to really over-jump, but now he’s leveled out. He does it easily now,” he said. The professional hunters got to show in the expansive grass Internationale Arena. The championship was tabulated from scores earned in three of their classes within their divisions, and a score from a classic round.

“It surprised me–my quiet horses were the one who were fresh today, and the ones that are usually a little bit up were mellow. It’s fun to go and ride out on that field,” Stewart said.

Megan Massaro polished off her junior career with a win in the $24,000 National Horse Show Junior/Amateur-Owner Hunter Championship aboard Lyle.

“This was the best; it’s almost surreal. I can’t describe how I feel. This is my last round as a junior, so I just wanted to go in there and have some fun. He was excellent,” Massaro said of the Dutch-bred, gray gelding, who she’s been showing all year.

“I won every jumping class and was champion, so this was a great way to top it off,” she continued. Lyle is a familiar face in the show ring, having campaigned in the adult hunters and junior divisions. Massaro, who catch rides for trainers Don Stewart and Bibby Farmer Hill, was given the reins early this year.

“The owners, Mrs. Rinehart and her daughter Stephanie, didn’t really want to retire him yet. He’s 13, and I seemed suitable for the ride, and we just kind of clicked. We were going to only show now and then, but we ended up going for Horse of the Year,” Massaro said. They currently lead the small junior hunter, 16-17 USEF national standings.

“If I had to describe my perfect ride, it would be him. He’s soft, and sensitive, and all you have to do is tell him what to do. He’s an amazing jumper and he tries so hard,” she said. “I’m not going to lie, I was so excited to be able to ride him.”

Massaro, a freshman at the University of South Carolina, has received a full riding scholarship and will now concentrate on her college riding career.