After winning the opening five-star class on Wednesday at World Equestrian Center – Ocala, Canadian Olympian Erynn Ballard returned to the winner’s circle in the $32,000 Wild Horse Refuge Grand Prix Qualifier CSI2* with Paladin 116. A large class of 49 entries saw 18 go clear to the jump-off, and 11 of those were double clear.
It was a race to the finish, but Ballard won decisively in a time of 35.05 seconds. Shane Sweetnam and Balou H, a 10-year-old Westphalian gelding by Baloutelli x F.A. N. Holland owned by Leadon Ridge LLC and Sweet Oak Farm, finished second in 36.58 seconds. Coming in third was Richard Vogel (GER) and Quizas van’t Hulsbox, a 10-year-old BWP gelding by Emerald van het Ruytershof x Apollo van het Lindenbox owned by Devos Stables. They were clear in 37.05 seconds.
“It was pretty fast,” said Ballard with a smile about her jump-off ride. “I was looking for 10 strides from jumps one to two, and it showed up in nine strides. We were talking about it in the warm-up ring, one of those sayings is that you win the jump-off in the first three jumps. You can’t catch up if you go slow in the beginning.
“I felt so fast in the beginning, jumps one-two-three-four,” she continued. “Then the seven strides got slow into the double combination. I took a chance and added a stride to the last jump because I felt like he was going so fast, and I needed to keep his concentration. I definitely won in the first three jumps, and that’s where you see the difference in the time.”
Ballard, who rides for Ilan Ferder Stables, first rode Paladin a year ago before their amateur student Djuna Lauder took over. With Lauder now in college in Scotland, Ballard and Ferder are further developing the nine-year-old Westphalian gelding by Plot Blue x Comme Il Faut until Lauder finishes her school year.
“He’s a fast and careful jumper, and he’s got everything in his favor to win a class like this,” she described. “At the 1.45m level he’s still learning, but he’s just quite good. We want to jump 1.50m and then give him back to Djuna. She trains with us here and with the Fuchs team in Switzerland, which is our partner in Europe. We’re a big team, and we’re worldwide. Martin was texting me about the class, and it’s nice to have his support.”
Ballard and Sweetnam will return to the ring in the two international classes on Saturday preceding the evening’s feature grand prix.
Results here.
Competition at WEC – Ocala this week continues on Saturday, February 14, with the $10,000 Wild Horse Refuge Speed CSI2* at 10 a.m. followed by the $62,000 Speed CSI5*-W class at 1 p.m. The $300,000 1.60m CSI5*-W Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Ocala presented by MARS Equestrian will start at 7 p.m. More information on the week’s events can be found HERE.
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