An attempt to reinstate the disqualified American McLain Ward fails at the show jumping championship in Geneva Switzerland, where the USA's overnight leader Mario Deslauriers sinks to sixth
It was a bad day for the USA all around at the Rolex FEI World Cup Show Jumping finals in Geneva, Switzerland, where the FEI (international equestrian federation) denied reinstatement of McLain Ward in the competition and overnight leader Mario Deslauriers finished sixth.The U.S. Equestrian Federation made a last-ditch appeal against the disqualification of Ward, whose mount, Sapphire, had been found to be "hypersensitive" Friday night. Ward, who was in the lead overall to that point, and the U.S. veterinarian maintained there was nothing wrong with the horse and protested the way her elimination was handled.
But the FEI tribunal that heard the Sunday morning appeal, just hours before the Cup's two final rounds, denied the request on the grounds it did not have jurisdiction to overturn the decision of the ground jury.
Although nothing can revive Ward's dashed dream of winning the Cup this year, the matter is not being dropped.
The FEI tribunal soon will be considering the USEF's full claim regarding the retroactive disqualification of Sapphire. Following that decision and more consultation with Ward, the USEF will decide what to do next, according to its president, David O'Connor.
Ward sees what happened to him as a sign of a bigger problem.
“I think that there is a serious concern with the direction the FEI has been going for a long time and this time, they have gone over the line. It was an unjust ruling... there are flaws in the process and in the overall ruling," he said.
"I think that with the great support of my national federation, who has come through 150 percent for me, we will come through this particular incident and consequence and make the sport better in the future," commented Ward, who is vice president of the North American Riders Group, which expressed outrage over the situation.
Whatever the tribunal decides, Ward noted," I will never get this back, what was lost here today. Personally, I will never get it back and that must be considered."
However, he added he is concerned "on a much larger scale (with) what is going on with the vague rules that are left up to the very subjective interpretation of people who are volunteers or part-time employees of the FEI and bear little responsibility for the decisions that they make. We must change these procedures; we must have a governing body that is democratic. This wouldn’t be tolerated in the United States and I am not sure how much more the sport can tolerate.”
Meanwhile,Delauriers, who won the Cup finals in 1984 at the age of 19 when he was a Canadian, became an American citizen last year. After Ward's disqualification, he moved to the top of the leaderboard, and held that spot with Urico following Sunday's first round.
However, his five-point lead faded in the second round and he finished sixth, the highest-placed American. Californian Richard Spooner was seventh with Cristallo.
Germany's Marcus Ehning, riding Noltes Kuchengirl and Plot Blue, won the crown for the third time, becoming only the fourth person to do so since the competition began in 1979. His countryman Ludger Beerbaum, a former winner, tied for second on Gotha with the home side's Pius Schweizer (Carlina)