WELLINGTON, Fla.--The U.S. Jumping Team of Karl Cook, Callie Schott, Marilyn Little and McLain Ward for the second year in a row won the $150,000 CSIO4* Nations Cup on Saturday evening,Feb. 28 at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

McLain Ward on Jordan Molga M (Photo by Sportfot)From the eight nations competing, the U.S. won with zero faults, Ireland was second with four faults, and Canada was thid with 13 faults.

In a tense finale, it came down to the final rider in the Nations Cup to decide the winner, and again it was McLain Ward, this time riding a new horse, Jordan Molga M, who delivered the winning round.

After Cook on Caracole de la Roque, Little on La Contessa and Schott on Garant had all gone clean in round one, Ward decided not to go in that round.

For Ireland, Cian O’Connor on Ulysses, Tom Wachman on Do It Easy and Shane Sweetnam on Rural Juniot SCF had all gone clean while Jordan Coyle on Chaccolino had four faults, so Ireland was also on zero faults.

As Ireland and the U.S. were both on zero after round one, the U.S. with a faster combined time last in the second round.

 

IN ROUND TWO, Schott and Little went clean again, while Cook had four faults, and for the Irish Coyle and Cian O’Connor were clean, with Wachman having four faults, and then Sweetnam also had four faults.

Marilyn Little on La Contessa (Photo by Sportfot)So all the pressure on Ward’s shoulders.

Four faults from Ward would mean a jump-off, and a clean round would win it.

“It’s a position that I’ve grown to be comfortable in and relish, to be honest, but I think I felt more pressure because it’s a new relationship with this horse,” said Ward of Jordan Molga M, the mount owned by Michael Smith that joined Ward’s string in December and made a debut under the lights at WEF on Saturday night. “I was going back and forth on whether I should jump the first round, and decided I needed to trust our preparation."

"I had done a couple of night grand prixin Ocala, but not here," said Ward. "I’m very lucky to have such a strong team that put me in a pretty nice position. It’s always a good feeling knowing you’re going to either jump off or win. That's a pretty luxurious spot to be in."

“This is always an interesting Nations Cup because the pressure is on to win. It’s a home Nations Cup and a really big deal,” said chef d'equipe Robert Ridland. “At the same time, it’s early, and you’ve got to play the long ball. This is the beginning of the year, but you can’t do everything at the end, and this will have played a role for sure in where we are later in the season. More importantly, what a great night it was.”

Ridland was referring to the planning for the spring and summer season leading up to the World Championships in Aachen.

Callie Schott on Garant (Phooto by Sportfot)“There are reasons for everyone being here," said Ridland. "We try to start putting the pieces together looking ahead for the season and tonight it worked incredibly for us. It’s a great event and every year you really feel the support and the energy from the crowd and the atmosphere.”

“The two double clears were phenomenal,” said Ridland of Little and Schott. “That’s the way you win Nations Cups, with double-clear rounds.”

“La Contessa's consistency is absolutely fabulous," said Little, who has also ridden on a medal winning three day event team at the Pan Am Games, but has returned to jumping. "It’s a blessing to have a partner you can really count on. We've been really prepping for this. This was a dream about 12 months ago, so to be here, with a horse like that, on a team like this with mentors, and in my hometown, it’s a dream come true.”

"This was my first Nations Cup on home turf," said Schott. “It was really exciting to jump double clear and be there for the team. I trust Garant so much—he loves to run and jump, and if I trust him and be there for him, he’s there for me."

“He was very excited to be coming back for a second round,” Schott said. “I think he thought he was coming back for a jump-off, but he held us together.”

Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque (Photo by Sportfot)Cook had given Caracole a good amount of time off, so he wanted to get her back in international competition.

"When you know you're going to be on a team, you have time to prepare," said Cook. "We started in California, and did the work we had to do. Then we came here and had a nice week last week."

“The show here has built a really great brand around Saturday Night Lights, and not only does the horse culture here in Wellington come out, but also the general public does as well.," said Cook. "The crowd helps us as riders, and I think it makes the sport better.”

Teams from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ireland, Israel and Mexico competed in the opening round, with the top six teams returning for round two.

Over a course set Nick Garant and Steve Stephens, Israel with 27 faults and Colombia, with the team eliminated, did not advance.

Australia and Mexico finished tied for fourth on 17 faults and Brazil was sixth with 18 faults.

Following the podium ceremony, WAad's two daughters ran intothe ring and Ward picked them both up and gave them a huge hug.

Then he took the banner off his shoulder and put it on the 6-year-old Madison, and then h hung his medal around the 9-year-old Lilly's neck.

Earlier in the day, in a national grand prix, reigning European Champion Richard Vogel won the $50,000 1.50m Grand Prix riding Quizas van’t Hulsbos,