If McLain Ward isn’t already a virtual shoo-in for a spot on the United States Show Jumping Team for the Rio Olympics, he continues to punctuate his utter dominance of the sport with every victory he earns. A total of 57 combinations took the start in the 'small' Grand Prix in Rome. The jumps were set at a height of 1.50/1.55m and a total of 22 pairs qualified for the jump-off. Eventually it was the man in form, Ward McLain who jumped to victory. Earlier this week the USA show jumper already took home victory in the 1.50m speed class. Ward landed and turned, cut a corner or two, opened HH Carlos Z up into a ground-eating gallop, and clocked a time of 34.78 seconds “It’s a little bit what he does, this is his career.” Ward commented. “He kind of does the grunt work for the two stars [HH Azur and Rothchild]. But he’s good at it, he enjoys his job, you can see he’s the proudest in the prizegiving, I think he does it for that. And he’s really in good form lately.” Gianni Govani and Antonio (by Aes Dick Z) followed in a second place after a finish in 36.40 seconds. Argentina's Jose Maria Larocca completed the international stage. Aboard Eliot DWS (by Winningmood van de Arenberg) Larocca stopped the clock in 37.97 seconds, over three seconds slower as the winning pair. Luca Maria Moneta (Connery) and Elizabeth Madden (Cortes 'C') completed the top five, finishing in fourth and fifth place. See full results of the €80,450 Engel & Volkers Palm Beach CSIO5* Grand Prix here.
