Jim Ifko top Canadian in fifth place board Un Diamant Des Forets
To mark his seventh win of the Spruce Meadows Summer Series, McLain Ward(USA) piloted HH Carlos Z to yet another championship title in the ATCO Cup, with a double clear round and a time of 35.33 in the jump off.
Out of a starting order of 65 entries, only nine horse/rider combinations would make it clear over the Santiago Varela(ESP) course. McLain commented, “The course was nice, Santiago Varela is a great course designer, and we all know that time allowed is always a challenge with a lot of careful fences here at Spruce Meadows – it was Carlos’s first time out this week and I thought today went very well.” With five of nine crossing the finish line on a double clear score card, speed definitely became a major factor in the second round. Ward Continued, “I feel my advantage today in the jump off was the fact that Carlos Z is ultimately the faster horse, in fact I believe that Philipp Weishaupt did less strides than me. I personally liked the line around the island to the double, I felt like the inside line was a bit rough – but he is definitely the faster horse.”
The rising star from Germany, Philipp Weishaupt performed an incredibly efficient round over Varela’s jump off riding Call Me Eva, an 8 year-old Hanoverian mare. Unfortunately, it would not be enough the seal the win over Ward, arriving just 0.12 seconds off the pace to finish in second.