McLain Ward will take home the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation’s Whitney Stone Cup this year.  The award recognizes an active competitor who displays consistent excellence in international competition, high standards of sportsmanlike conduct and who also serves as an ambassador for the United States and equestrian sport.

USET Foundation President and CEO, Jane F. Clark, stated, “McLain is not only one of this country’s top equestrian athletes, but one of the best international competitors in our sport. His great talent and representation of this country make him a very deserving recipient of the USET Foundation’s prestigious Whitney Stone Cup.”

Ward, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, had a noteworthy year aboard Sapphire, a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare owned by Ward and Blue Chip Bloodstock.

The pair started out 2009 with wins in the $150,000 CN CSIO Grand Prix, the $200,000 CN Grand Prix, and $400,000 FTI Grand Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla. Ward won four additional $25,000 grand prix events on other horses at WEF.

Ward and Sapphire continued on to the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, Nev., and put in five clear rounds to finish second in the championship. When they represented the United States in the Meydan FEI Nations Cup tour, they scored double-clear rounds in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and in Aachen, Germany. Sapphire jumped clear in the Grand Prix of Aachen, one of the most prestigious classes in the world.

Sapphire and Ward returned home in the fall and took two more huge wins in the $250,000 FTI Grand Prix at the Hampton Classic Horse Show (N.Y.) and the CN $1 Million Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows in Calgary (Alb.). Ward ranks his win in Calgary as the best individual finish of his career.

All in all, Ward won 23 USEF Computer List classes this year. Sapphire won just under $1 million, and Ward totaled just over $1.4 million in prize money this year.

“It’s a great honor,” Ward said. “It’s a very prestigious award at the highest level of the sport. It’s humbling when you read the list of equestrians that have won it. You’re a part of that select group for the rest of your life. At the end of the day, I owe this to having a great horse in Sapphire, the owners for all of my horses and a great group of people behind me.”

The Whitney Stone Cup is given in honor of the late Whitney Stone, who served as President and Chairman of the Board of the USET. Stone led the USET from 1953 to 1973 and was instrumental in the creation of a civilian team when the Army retired from competitive horse sports after 1948.

Previous Whitney Stone Cup Winners:

1980 – Michael Matz
1981 – James C. Wofford
1982 – Norman Dello Joio
1983 – Melanie Smith
1984 – Carole Grant
1985 – Joe Fargis
1986 – Conrad Homfeld
1987 – Katie Monahan Prudent
1988 – Bruce O. Davidson
1989 – Gregory A. Best
1990 – William Long
1991 – Hap Hansen
1992 – Lana DuPont Wright
1993 – Carol Lavell
1994 – J. Michael Plumb
1995 – Robert Dover
1996 – Anne Kursinski
1997 – Leslie Burr Howard
1998 – David O’Connor
1999 – Valerie Kanavy
2000 – Karen O’Connor
2001 – Tucker Johnson
2002 – Gunter Seidel
2003 – Peter Wylde
2004 – Debbie McDonald
2005 – Chris Kappler
2006 – Elizabeth (Beezie) Madden
2007 – Elizabeth (Beezie) Madden
2008 – Miranda Caldwell
2009 – Steffen Peters
2010 – McLain Ward