German rider captures equestrian championship

McLain Ward came close to the unimaginable Sunday for the U.S. Show Jumping team.

The New York native was perfect in the final rounds of the FEI World Cup Show Jumping event at the Thomas & Mack Center. But Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and her dark bay gelding, Shutterfly, were perfect for all three days of Cup competition.

She edged Ward by two seconds to win $53,965 and become the third person to win three Cup championships in the 31-year history of the worldwide event.

"It was the hardest win I've ever had," she said. "McLain left me absolutely no room for error."

Had Michaels-Beerbaum and Shutterfly knocked off one rail in either of Sunday's two rounds, Ward would have stunned the equestrian world by completing an American sweep of the four-day affair.

Michaels-Beerbaum is an American native, too.

The 39-year-old was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the United States. While attending Princeton in 1991, she left to spend a year in Germany.

She fell in love with the country and started a horse business there. A few years later she married her business partner and became a German citizen and a member of her adopted homeland's equestrian team in 1999.

"I consider myself to be 50-50" American and German, she said.

"A lot of my family and friends were here so I felt like a hometown hero, and that might have given me an advantage. I'm proud to be 50 percent American."

Michaels-Beerbaum's perfection kept Ward and the Americans from a shocking weekend.

The red, white and blue parade began Saturday afternoon when Oregon's Rich Fellers won the Las Vegas Grand Prix Show Jumping title in a special event that does not count toward the World Cup title.

A few hours later, Steffen Peters of San Diego and his horse, Ravel, became only the second U.S. duo to win the World Cup Dressage title in the event's 23-year history.

It was quite a weekend for the U.S. equestrian riders.

"Things go in cycles," said Ward, 33, of Brewster, N.Y. "We were a little down in the 1990s. We've always had good riders; we needed better American horses. Now we have good American horses."

Like his Sapphire, a 14-year-old Belgian warmblood mare.

"I'm really proud of my horse and how I did," he said. "I'd do it all the same.

"(Michaels-Beerbaum) was perfect too and a touch faster."

The only regrets voiced by the jumpers was that the World Cup's fifth biennial visit to Las Vegas since 2000 will be the last until at least 2014.

Las Vegas Events, which brought the World Cup to Las Vegas and contributed greatly to this year's $805,000 prize fund, did not submit a bid for any events through 2013. A spokesman for LVE said it is pleased with this year's five-day attendance of 58,589 -- including 7,497 on Sunday -- and will consider bidding to host the 2014 event and perhaps every four or five years instead of biennially.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.