It was déjà vu all over again.  McLain Ward went last in the jump-off.  Kent Farrington was leading with a seemingly unbeatable time aboard Up Chiqui.  And there was a long gallop to a vertical as the last jump.

But while last week, at the Pennsylvania National, Ward took a pull to the last and ended up second to Up Chiqui, this week, Nov. 3 at the Syracuse Sporthorse Invitational Tournament, he went all out and galloped full steam ahead to the last vertical.  The gamble paid off this time, and he and Phillipa shaved off .14 seconds of Farrington’s time to take the top check in the $75,000 Budweiser World Cup-Qualifier of Syracuse.

“I did not think I had a shot to beat him,” Ward admitted.  “I was kind of kicking myself the whole way home from [the Pennsylvania National], wondering if I should have kicked on to that last fence.  It’s an absolute compliment to Kent that we try so hard to beat him.  What Kent wins is absolutely staggering.”

Farrington had an inkling that his time might be vulnerable.  “I think that to the second-to-last fence, the Swedish oxer, I didn’t get there quite the way I wanted to.  I went a bit wide there and added one stride on the turn, and that slowed me down,” he said.  But the remainder of his jump-off round was trademark Up Chiqui, spinning around the turns and flying to the last vertical with a flip of his tail.

Great Britain’s William Whitaker, 18, could have taken a pretty good shot at Farrington’s time with the springy gray mare Arielle, but he erred on the side of caution on the gallop to the last.  “I kind of chickened out a little bit—I should have kept going there,” he said.  “It was my fault because I held out too much.  I went as fast as I thought I needed to go.”

Whitaker is in the States for Syracuse and for the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ont., next week.  His uncle, Michael Whitaker, has been a loyal attendee of Syracuse in years past and talked William into it this year.  William has had Arielle, an 11-year-old Hanoverian mare, for a year, and jumped his first World Cup-qualifying grand prix classes with her last year.

For Ward, Phillipa’s win is a good harbinger for things to come.  “She only jumped her first grand prix in May,” he said of the 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare.  “I’ve never felt a horse jump so easy.  She plays with the jumps.  I’ve never ridden anything like it in my life.”  Ward’s father, Barney, and family friend Francois Mathy found Phillipa in Europe, and Ward imported her early this year.  She was for sale, but just before Syracuse, Debbie Dolan Sweeney of Sagamore Farms bought the striking chestnut mare for Ward to keep showing.  “They’re going to keep her through next year’s Olympics, which is wonderful because I think she has real individual medal potential,” Ward said.

$75,000 Budweiser Grand Prix of Syracuse CSI-W
1. McLain Ward/Phillipa                                                          0-0/34.36
2. Kent Farrington/Up Chiqui                                                  0-0/34.50
3. Arielle/William Whitaker                                                     0-0/34.43
4. Casadora/Lauren Hough                                                       0-0/35.80
5. Insul Tech Mozart des Hayettes/Michael Whitaker      0-0/36.28
6. Onira/Brianne Goutal                                                            0-4/36.76
7. Vancouver d’Auvray/Danielle Torano                                0-4/37.11
8. Carlos Boy/Ken Berkley                                                          0-4/40.12
9. Vegas/Christine McCrea                                                         0-4/41.90