Mclain Ward & HH Carlos Z. Ph via Spruce Meadows
With four competitions encompassing the inaugural Spruce Meadows Canada 1.50 Speed Series, McLain Ward of the USA captured the top spot in each of the first three events to own the top of the podium. On Sunday, July 9, 2017, he and HH Carlos Z earn one more red ribbon to add to the collection with the concluding event, the Lafarge Cup.
Ward had the good fortune to enter two of his great speed horses into the series, Tina La Boheme that earned him his first and third win, along with HH Carlos Z who he rode to victory in the second and final events. When discussing his unchanging strategy over the Leopoldo Palacios-designed course, Ward said, “the experience my horses have over this course has definitely helped. With each round I’ve been able to ride a bit more aggressively around the track.”
With each first place finish Ward managed to cross the finish line with an improved time on each horse.
Finishing second in today’s Lafarge Cup was the queen of competitive spirit – Leslie Howard of the USA. She laid down a fantastic round aboard Donna Speciale, a 9 year-old Dutch Warmblood mare by Cavalier. Howard crossed the finish line with an impressive time of 69.99 seconds, but in the final throws was not able to hold onto the lead with Ward riding Carlos to an epic finishing time of 63.60 seconds.
It was great to see young Vani Khosla of the USA finish with the best of them for the final podium position. Riding Billy Mexico, Vani was able to lock down a superb round aboard this talented 12 year-old stallion by Cevin Z.
The series Champion title was obtained by none other than American veteran Beezie Madden aboard her new and incredibly exciting mount, Con Taggio. The 8 year-old Oldenburg gelding stayed managed to maintain a top 12 position in each of the four Canada 150 series events to earn Madden the championship title, cooler and stunning bronze.