McLain Ward – hot off his gold medal win at the 2015 Pan American Games – and HH Carlos Z, owned by Double H Farm, took first place out of 29 entries in Sunday's $100,000 ULCERGARD Grand Prix at HITS-on-the-Hudson VI. Ward and HH Carlos Z went last in a six-horse jump-off. The first three riders in the jump-off each had four faults from single rails. Laura Chapot, on Mary Chapot's ISHD Dual Star, went fourth and earned the first clear round in 42.524 seconds. Mary Manfredi went fifth on Magnus Orfeo, owned by Great Span LLC, and had a clear round in a careful 47.812 seconds. Ward's ride was faster than Chapot's. Entering the ring, he and HH Carlos Z finished the shortened course in 40.095, shaving 2.5 seconds off the leading time to claim first. "The course was very good, I thought," said Ward. "Difficult, but really appropriate. I was lucky to have had three horses in [the Grand Prix]. My first two jumped very well but were a bit unlucky [with rails in Round 1], but Carlos is kind of an old glove for me. I know him very well, and if he jumps clear, he normally has a very good chance to win. He's very fast, and very careful and very experience and he performed beautifully." Anderson Lima, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, designed the course. HITS-on-the-Hudson continues August 26-30 with Week VII, and September 2-6 for HITS Championship, the Richest Weekend in Show Jumping, culminating in the Saugerties $1 Million Grand Prix CSI-5*, presented by Wells Fargo.
