BREWSTER, N.Y. - Brewster resident and equestrian extraordinaire McLain Ward have taken home a silver medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
He and fellow athletes, Laura Kraut and Karl Cook, took second in team show jumping at the Château de Versailles, while the British team won gold and the French team took the bronze.
It was the third year in a row that Team USA won silver in the event.
While it was the sixth consecutive time the 48-year-old’s been on the Olympic team, it was a first for his equine partner, an 11-year-old gelding named Ilex.
(Kraut rode Baloutinue, a 14-year-old gelding, while Cook’s mount was Caracole de la Roque, a 12-year-old mare.)
Known for delivering under extreme pressure, Ward could hardly conceal his shock when the falling of a back rail thwarted him and Ilex from advancing to the individual jumping final.
In an Instagram post, Ward said:
“There is no doubt there is some level of disappointment in not being in contention for an individual medal but as the Paris Olympics come to a close, our sixth games, I am also filled with pride in our USA Showjumping team, our support teams, and Ilex.”
Ward said that he’d played the game long enough “to understand disappointment in results is different from disappointment in performance” adding: “Though an individual medal continues to elude me our team once again delivered a medal winning performance, fifth time in six games!”
As for his partner, Ward said that “in reflection I always see things I could have done better but Ilex was brilliant and to be honest I thought a bit unlucky.”
He predicted that the horse would have “many great days ahead in his future.”
Ward said he was “very grateful” to everyone who had brought them together and made their partnership possible,” especially Ilex’s owner, international investor Gilberto Sayão Da Silva, of Bonne Chance Farm, a thoroughbred breeding and racing operation located in Versailles, Ky. (Ward is also an owner of Ilex.)
Saying he was looking forward to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, Ward said he was “forever grateful and thankful for the people around me who continue to be unwavering in their support and belief in chasing our dreams.”
“The stage is set on our home soil to get the job done!” he concluded.
This is the fifth medal for Ward. He won team jumping gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 games in Beijing and silver at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020.
Ward resides at and operates out of Castle Hill Farm in Brewster, just a short trot down the road from Old Salem Farm (OSF) in North Salem where he’s chalked up numerous wins due to his spectacular skills.
Born in Mount Kisco, he is the current reigning winner of the Empire State Grand Prix, which was presented by Old Salem Farm, one of the top stops on the nation’s hunger-jumper horse school circuit, this past spring.
He and his wife, Lauren, who competes in amateur divisions, have two daughters, Lilly and Madison.
Besides riding in OSF’s contests for decades, he’s also partnered with the owners of the prestigious venue on horse shows, new Grand Prix ring, and classes.
“To be an Olympian and represent my country is one of the proudest achievements of my life,” Ward said in an Instagram post prior to the games.
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