Grand Prix Press Conference Transcript - 2018 CSI4*-W Royal Horse Show

$205,000 Longines FEI Jumping World CupTM Toronto, presented by GroupBy

Tell us about the jump-off.
McLain Ward: It was nice to have the last spot in the order. I thought they were all pretty quick, and I know Devin and his horse are quick because he’s beat me a few times. I saw he got stuffed up to the vertical on the rollback in eight after the Longines double. I thought ‘ah maybe if I go a little left and I pick up on it, kind of roll around the clock, I can do seven.’ I was a little far away. I actually went to the back of the tack for a second. I thought I might chip, but she left. Then the last line was a good line for her off the right lead. I could keep coming. Sometimes you get lucky.

First round, long side, a few riders had an issue? It was a short distance off the corner. The five was a little loose because it was blind, and then the one was a little loose. Then he [Alan Wade] stuffed you up in the four into that corner. It was a good test. It was a gymnastics test, which is what courses are now at the highest level. The mare really performed beautifully the whole second part of this year and is really putting things together, and it’s a great way for her to finish her season.

If the draw had been different, anything else you would have done?
Devin Ryan: I mean, you always think that sitting outside the ring, what you would you have done differently and stuff like that. One to two, I was able to do one less stride than everybody else, and that worked out. Just like McLain said, I got stuffed to that vertical. I turned back; I didn’t take quite the shot that McLain took. I should have probably tried it, but that’s show jumping for you.

What are your future plans?
Devin Ryan: As I say, always take one day at a time, but this year I was going to try to make it back to World Cup Finals. I’m not going to chase the points too much. I have a schedule set with my horses, and I’m just going to roll along with that going into Florida this season. We’ll see how the cards play out. If we make the World Cup Finals we do, and if not, we try to maybe do some Nations’ Cups throughout the summer and give him a light year.

He’s had quite a big year this year, and I think he’s a really special horse. I don’t want to over use him. I’m not going to chase the money this year. I’ll see if I can rest him a little bit and see what plays out. See if I still have a fresh horse the following year.

Ali Ramsay: The jump-off, it’s always harder going first because you know you have to go clear. I think my horse did everything I asked of her. Of course, I maybe could have shaved off some space in a couple of turns. I probably would have done seven down the last if I’d gone later, but I think she did everything that I wanted.

Does it add pressure knowing people like McLain coming behind you?
Devin Ryan: Absolutely. I just try not to think about it. You try not to think about who you’re competing against because then you get a little bit hectic and sometimes you run a little faster than you might be able to to jump clear. I just wanted to do the best that my horse and I could today rather than think about who was coming up behind.

What’s the home crowd like?
Devin Ryan: That’s something incomparable to pretty much any show in Canada. We’re really lucky to have this Canadian indoor venue here. Having the crowd is really unlike anything.

Tell us about the course design.
Alan Wade: I started drawing it up. There were certain lines that I needed, I felt. The last time that I was here in 2011 we had the World Cup Qualifier very early in the week, and then we had the Big Ben on Saturday, but this was sort of a build up over the couple of days. We had the nice Big Ben, and I knew I’d have to build decently. We have some very nice horses and good riders here. I just provide the test. They’re the ones that provide the sport, so I just give them the tools to produce good sport. We had great show jumping tonight.

Did it play out as expected?
Alan Wade: Not really, no. We had one stage where we had five horses that had four faults at all different fences. The course is a test. You have to be careful of everything, something suiting certain horses. Short distances and some couldn’t move to get extra scope. That’s the top level you have; going forward that’s what you have to sort of build to a standard.

Charlie Johnstone: It feels wonderful to be able to put on a show like these guys put on for our crowd. We sold over 7,000 tickets for this evening. The Royal’s about the best of the best. We’re thrilled. The experience that the customers had today and the show that you guys put on. We’re thrilled to be part of the FEI Longines World Cup. It’s great.

What do you think about this being the only indoor World Cup qualifier in Canada?
Charlie Johnstone: It’s great. We’re in a good place. I think when you look at an event that’s 96 years old, leading into our centennial, and putting on the show that you put on this evening, you’ve got a lot of happy fans walking out of here. I think the future’s very bright for The Royal and the Royal Horse Show.

How are you going to celebrate 100 years? Anything special? Surprises?
Charlie Johnstone: There’s lots special, but none that I’ll tell you about! (laughing)
No, you think about the last few years and how we’ve been building this event and making some changes and tweaks and getting feedback from the riders and our customers. You keep adding to that year after year to make it bigger and better. The response from the crowd’s been outstanding, and it’s going to be exciting for the next few years.

McLain, tell us about HH Gigi’s Girl?
McLain Ward: The Harrisons and Mr. Harrison, obviously gone now, purchased her last summer. She was always a spectacular jumper. She had started jumping three-star grand prix in Europe last summer. We had very high hopes because of the talent, but to be honest, I think she was a much greener horse than we thought when we acquired her. So, the beginning was a little bit slow. Never bad, but a little frustrating. Four faults a lot. It took us awhile. Then slowly this summer, things started to get more consistent and clear rounds and some really key moments. It really turned the corner, and I feel she has a really exciting future. The horse is very careful. She’s a big jumper, brave. She’s just kind of putting the pieces together. Like I said, I think she was a little bit of a less experienced horse than I had initially thought when we got her, so it’s taken a little time, but she’s looking really good right now.

What do you like about The Royal?
McLain Ward: I love it here. Obviously, I’m not Canadian, but I kind of think of this as a second home. I started coming here when this was the outside of the building.

I was actually telling Jonathon Millar today – I didn’t tell Ian this – but on my way over here in the cab, I was being a little reminiscent. I think this is my 23rd, 22nd, 24th - somewhere in there - Royal. I love the city, and I love the crowds, and I love the event. I love the hotel. It’s like an Eloise moment for me here with the big city. I was thinking, ‘I wonder how many more years I’m going to get to experience it?’ being a little melancholy, and I decided to look up Ian’s age. I read 71, and I was like ‘okay, I still have 29 more years! That’s good!’ That says a lot. I love being here. I love walking through the underground. I love going to certain restaurants. I think the show is being run beautifully. I think the organization is phenomenal. I like the change in the schedule building up to the premiere night tonight. As you saw, a sold-out crowd, standing room only. I think they’re doing a brilliant job, and I’m thrilled to be part of it.

Devin Ryan: I guess one of the big special things about this show is that they take the top eight Canadian riders, top eight Americans, and eight European riders so it’s not an easy show to get into. It’s a very premiere event. This is my first year coming here. It’s a new venue, but it’s a spectacular venue. I don’t have one negative thing to say about the place. I think it’s a great atmosphere. For Longines to come up here and put this on for us with The Royal. If I’m able to come back in the future, I’ll be here for sure.

Ali Ramsay: The first year that I came here was in 2012 for the CET Medal Final. I hadn’t been back until a few years ago. I won the CET, so it was really cool to come back as an international rider jumping Canadian championships and coming into international week and going from jumping the 1.10m to the 1.50m, 1.60m. It’s pretty cool to be here and competing with these guys and getting to sit up here with these guys. I love this show. It’s the one we look forward to at the end of every year, and I hope I get to come back next year.

What did you think about the schedule change (moving the World Cup from Wednesday to Saturday)?
Alan Wade: I got to see them the other night. I got to see them once or twice whereas before you were straight into the World Cup Qualifier, so you had to go - you were a bit unsure about what happened. Tonight, I had full confidence in what I could build and what I couldn’t build. I trusted the riders and the horses that I’d seen that they could answer the questions.

Reflect on your year?
Devin Ryan: It’s been a huge year. I’ve had this horse since he was a young horse, since he was four years old. I’ve been developing him. I always thought he was a really special horse. You can never predict the future. You just have to sort of keep your head down and working hard. I set goals and every one sort of just seemed to happen slowly. You don’t know every time you step in the ring, even tonight, you don’t know what’s going to happen. The way it ended up this year, it was quite an amazing year. Riding against all of these top riders. I mean, I didn’t spend any time in Europe really showing in any international level or anything, so to finish off at the WEG this year at the end of the summer was definitely a one percent lifetime type thing. I hope there are more of those types of events. One percent of the country gets to do it every year or every four years. Just all of those things coming together – I didn’t really even fully realize until after the WEG really set in, ‘this is really like a small little group that get to do this once in a while.’ Being able to have a horse like this, to be able to compete in these events, it’s been neat for people to see that I’m not just a young horse trainer. I can come out here and compete with these big shots like McLain over here and lay it down and work my way up. It’s been pretty fun. I hope that there is more good to come. Hopefully I get some other great horses like Eddie in the future. Hopefully they can name a class after a horse like Eddie Blue like the Big Ben one day. That’d be pretty cool.

McLain Ward: Not in Canada!

(laughing)

Devin Ryan: Maybe not in Canada, but now I think about those things: What’s the next step? What’s the next level? The only thing you can really do is keep on working hard.

Changes made for the jump-off course?
Alan Wade: The changes that I made. I was going to actually reduce the height of the second fence from 1.60m back down to 1.55m, but I said ‘there are five of them. It’s over $200,000 in prize money. It should be about jumping first.’ But I still gave them a chance. I felt the oxer down at the end of the ring that it would have been very, very difficult to turn back up oxer, oxer line, given a chance so I narrowed up that oxer, but I put up the back rail so they could actually come on a Swedish turn. Then the oxer across the middle was going to be very difficult, so under FEI rules, you can change to a new number, two liverpools worked but in the jump-off was one too many, I felt. I just put up a 1.60m vertical. I had it had 1.55m, but then I said no, it should be 1.60m as well. I just gave them a chance to show their jumping ability, their ability to turn left and right, and their ability to go fast. It was good show jumping, really good show jumping.

How do you plan to keep it fresh at The Royal? Keeping the spirit?
Charlie Johnstone: I think it’s really about taking the feedback from the riders and our competitors and our customers. I think The Royal’s special in that we’re in the heart of downtown Toronto. I think we’re the sixth largest media market in North America. We’ve got the history. But like you say, it’s about changing things up. The new schedule, I think, has worked. That feedback has worked, and we’ll continue to do that. I think it’s important that we’ve got a show that’s not just show jumping. We’ve got all sorts of disciplines. That really attracts people from all different sectors. I think what we’re trying to do is look as this as an event but also as an entertainment opportunity. There were folks I was speaking to tonight who had never been to a major horse show. They were in awe of what was happening. They were enthusiastic about the experience, and I think being in a venue that’s sold out with 7,000 people in advance, they knew they were walking into something that was going to be very exciting, and it exceeded their expectations. As we continue to build that over and over, I think you’re going more sell-outs throughout the week at The Royal.

How did you decide to change the schedule?
Charlie Johnstone: I think it’s really taking feedback from the riders, and from our friends at the FEI. It makes it more consistent with other events, and it fits very well with the programming. It really is taking our best product and putting it on our prime night. Again, it’s a testament when you have a sold-out audience as enthusiastic as they were tonight. I think you can expect this to continue next year.