Olympic equestrian sets record in Hampton Classic
McLain Ward, riding Sapphire, won the Hampton Classic FTI Grand Prix. (Sept. 5, 2010) Credit: Shawn McMillen
Two-time Olympic gold medal equestrian McLain Ward set a record Sunday with his fifth win at the Hampton Classic FTI Grand Prix, the Bridgehampton horse show that draws celebrities and top riders from across the world.
"This has always been an important event to me," said Ward, 34, of upstate Brewster, who rode his horse, Sapphire, to their second consecutive Grand Prix win at the East End event. "This is a great show and probably the most prestigious class in the United States, so it's always a nice event to win."
Among Long Islanders competing in the show, Danielle Cooper, 19, of Oyster Bay, came away Sunday with the most impressive win, taking first place in the Carolex Show Jumping Derby on her horse, Kosta, a 13-year-old Royal Dutch warmblood that she has owned for nearly three years.
She won $7,500 of the $25,000 purse for the event, an amateur-owner junior rider jumper class.
"It means a lot to me to win this," Cooper said. "It's such an important Long Island horse show and I'm from Long Island. I've been going to it since I was 7."
It was Cooper's second win at the Hampton Classic. When she was 9 in 2001, she won first prize in the Short Stirrup contest.
The eight-day horse show, which ended Sunday and traditionally culminates with the Grand Prix, featured more than 120 classes in which horse and rider are judged on style, speed and precision over sometimes massive jumps. Steven Spielberg and Bruce Springsteen were among the celebrities attending the show, which caps the end of the Hamptons summer social scene.
Ward and Sapphire - a 15-year-old mare jointly owned by Ward and Blue Chip Bloodstock - beat out 35 other entries and were one of four entries to clear all of the fences without error on the first try. In the subsequent "jumpoff," against the clock, the pair again cleared all of the jumps in 40.85 seconds, besting Jimmy Torano, of Fort Lauderdale, riding Vince, owned by Bynum Farms.
It was the second time Ward has repeated two consecutive years as the Grand Prix champion in Bridgehampton. He won in 1998 and 1999 on the horse Twist Du Valon. He also won in 2003.
"I owe her my career," Ward said of Sapphire. "As I said 100 times before, she is a spectacular partner and just keeps coming through."
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
