THERMAL, Calif.--Erynn Ballard, Kaitlin Campbell and McLain Ward of the Roadrunners won the $200,000 Major League Show Jumping CSI5* Team Competition on Friday, Dec. 12

Mclain Ward on First Lady (Photo by High Desert Sport Photo)“We play to win!” said Ballard. “You have a very strong group of winners riding on this team, so there’s nothing better than a win. There’s nothing better than a win at home. I think all of us rose to the occasion tonight.”

In MLSJ format, after all eight teams with three riders each go in the first round, the top four teams advance to the first jump-off.

There, each team selects two riders to try to win a spot in the gold medal podium jump-off round.

“Our strategy was to put McLain and I in the first jump-off to get us into the winning round,” said Ballard.

Both Ballard on Her Game Ball BG and Ward on First Lady went clean, with Ballard also having the night’s fastest round.

The gold-medal showdown then was between Campbell and Maccabi United’s Daniel Bluman.

 

BLUMAN went first on Hummer Z, and finished clean in 44.95 seconds.

Campbell on COSM Castlefield Cornelious, thanks in part to some extra encouragement from teammate Ward,  blazed through the timers in 44.14 seconds to win for the Roadrunners.

“I’m absolutely terrified of letting McLain down!” said Campbell. “I heard him yell after jump number three, and I was like, ‘I am more afraid of McLain than pulling on the reins, so I’m just going to go!’ I think the advantage also I had tonight is I was on my best horse. I trust that horse so much. We’ve done so much together. I knew Daniel was maybe on a good horse, but not his best horse. I had my best horse in there, so I knew I could just let him go.”

With the win in Leg 7, the DIHP Roadrunners are now third in the overall MLSJ team standings with just two more legs remaining.