Jump Media Press Release
In a historic turn of events, the $25,000 Puissance class ended up with three winners tied: McLain Ward and Catoki, Daniel Coyle (IRL) and Imar, and Santiago Lambre (BRA) and The Diamant Rose Z. While all three had faults in the third jump-off round with the wall at 1.95 meters, they agreed to return for the fourth and final round and all cleared it.
It was the first Puissance for all three horses, and all three riders agreed that they wanted to come back and give it one final try. The riders shared their thought after the class:
Santiago Lambre: “It was the first time she’s jumped a wall I think! The first round she was spooky, but then she started to improve every round. I feel that she finished very solid. I was confident coming back in the final time because she was very good. She had a little touch, but the fault was unlucky. I thought she could do one more round.”
Daniel Coyle: “He actually doesn’t jump walls particularly well. That’s why I decided to put him in the puissance. Usually when you do it once or twice, you get a little more confident. When we had it down, I was very disappointed because I didn’t get the stride I wanted. The first time I didn’t have a great stride in the corner, and he went a little green on me. I ended up too far off. Thankfully they let us go back and make it right. The next time, I made sure that I was riding a little more confident. The last Puissance I did was in Dublin four years ago. I wasn’t nervous, but I felt old going in! The crowd loves it, so it always makes it better for us, no matter what happens.”
McLain Ward: “Who would have thought – Puissance specialist Catoki. He’s 15.1 hands, and he’s a speed horse. We thought we’d maybe jump a couple rounds. Honestly, he was jumping it easy and felt very in hand. I saw a couple had trouble in that third round, and I really overrode it. I was also a bit upset with myself, so when we had the opportunity to go again, he jumped it beautiful. We’re all a bunch of top, competitive riders, and the horses were doing it pretty handily. It was worth a try.”
