USA’s McLain Ward had a packed house on its feet at the end of a nine-horse jump-off in the CHF406,000 ($440,480 USD) Fidelity Investments® CSI5* Grand Prix during Week 5’s ‘Saturday Night Lights’ at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). He and Callas had precision and speed in spades to tackle Frank Rothenberger’s (GER) track and win the first CSI5* event of the WEF season.

There’s another leading lady coming up in Ward’s impressive string of horses. He expertly piloted Callas, a 15-year-old Holsteiner (Casall x Coriano) to the first CIS5* victory of the mare’s career on Saturday. They eclipsed what seemed like an untouchable leading time from Ireland’s Darragh Kenny and Volnay du Boisdeville, a 2009 Selle Français stallion (Winningmood x Jalisco B) owned by Vlock Show Stables. Ward clocked in at 44.03 seconds, nearly a second faster that Kenny (45.09). An even smaller margin separated second and third place, with Kent Farrington (USA) stopping the clock at 45.14 seconds with Landon, a 2013 Zangersheide gelding (Comilfo Plus Z x Quadrillo) owned by Haity MC Nerney. (Top Canadian in the class was Tiffany Foster, who placed 14th with Hamilton.)

Ward has been the number-one rider for Callas for about a year, but is no stranger to the mare’s talent after scouting her for previous rider, U.S. Under 25 athlete Annabel Revers*.

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