McLain Ward Wins the 5* Grand Prix at Mill Spring, Tryon, Ahead of Christian Kukuk
McLain Ward: Five-Star Grand Prix Victory on His 51st Birthday
from Dominique Wehrmann 
McLain Ward and High Star Hero Z won the CSI5* Grand Prix at Mill Spring, Tryon.
Photo: MLSJ Mill Spring, Tryon, North Carolina, is hosting the fifth leg of the Major Show Jumping League this weekend, a CSI5* series on the American continent. After Richard Vogel sensationally won the Grand Prix qualifier with his up-and-coming horse Diatasio, the Grand Prix itself was on the program yesterday. There, the world No. 1, Quizas van’t Hulsbos, competed but failed to advance to the jump-off after one knockdown.
Things went better for six other pairs, including Olympic champion Christian Kukuk, who rode his German champion Akarad Tivoli Z through the first round just as flawlessly as Shane Sweetnam on his Olympic and World Championship horse James Kann Cruz, cousins Mark and Daniel Bluman on Genial de B’Neville and Corbie V.V. (ISR), Gabriel de Matos Machado of Brazil on Legaland Sandro, and U.S. rider McLain Ward on High Star Hero.
In the jump-off, three riders completed a second clear round, led by birthday boy McLain on his top horse, High Star Hero. The pair, who also competed for the U.S. at the World Championships in Aachen, not only jumped clear but also finished faster than everyone else: 42.68 seconds. With that, victory was theirs for the taking. For McLain Ward, it was a great birthday present. The Grand Prix had a purse of $340,000.
But right behind him was Christian Kukuk on his ten-year-old Zangersheider gelding Akarad Tivoli Z (44.30), who helped his rider check off an item on his bucket list at the German Championships in Balve, and who had placed third just a few weeks ago in his first World Cup show jumping competition. Yesterday, he proved once again that he is a horse built for big challenges.
Daniel Bluman, riding Genial de B’Neville, was the third rider to complete a clear round in the jump-off (49.52). Even without that one knockdown, Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz would not have beaten Kukuk with their time of 44.97 seconds.
Daniel Bluman and Gabriel de Matos Machado tied for the same position in the standings, each with four faults. The third German rider in this CSI5* Grand Prix, Junior European Team Champion Tony Stormanns, had twelve faults in the first round riding Donjon d’Asschaut.
You can find all the results from Tryon here.
