To mark his 7th win of the Spruce Meadows Summer Series, McLain Ward (USA) piloted HH Carlos Z (Chellano x Voltaire) to yet another title in the ATCO Cup, with a double clear round and a time of 35.33 in the jump off.

Out of a starting order of 65 entries, only nine horse/rider combinations would make it clear over the Santiago Varela (ESP) course. McLain commented, “The course was nice, Santiago Varela is a great course designer, and we all know that time allowed is always a challenge with a lot of careful fences here at Spruce Meadows – it was Carlos’s first time out this week and I thought today went very well.” With five of nine crossing the finish line on a double clear score card, speed definitely became a major factor in the second round.  Ward Continued, “I feel my advantage today in the jump off was the fact that Carlos Z is ultimately the faster horse, in fact I believe that Philipp Weishaupt did less strides than me. I personally liked the line around the island to the double, I felt like the inside line was a bit rough – but he is definitely the faster horse.”

The rising star from Germany, Philipp Weishaupt (GER) performed an incredibly efficient round over Varela’s jump off riding Call Me Eva (Chacco-Blue x Stakkato), an 8 year-old Hanoverian mare. Unfortunately, it would not be enough the seal the win over Ward, arriving just 0.12 seconds off the pace to finish in second.

The final podium placing was taken by Katherine Strauss (USA) aboard Executive, a 9 year-old Hanoverian gelding by Stolzenberg. Strauss completed a fantastic round, arriving 1.78 seconds behind Weishaupt to land at the top of the notable roster for her first major podium finish in this year’s Summer Series.