Thermal, Calif.—Nov. 6

If you’re going to fly across the country for a horse show, you may as well win.

And that’s exactly what McLain Ward and Rothchild did in today’s $100,000 Coachella Valley Classic, besting the other 28 riders to take the top check for Sagamore Farms.

Ward opted to bring his individual gold medal mount from this year’s Toronto Pan American Games to California for the HITS Sunshine Series II CSI*****, while he’s left two other top horses back east. He’ll ride them next week during the Royal Winter Fair CSI-W (Ontario).