Jad Dana is back on his winning Wellington form

Jad Dana is back in Wellington and making the most of the off-season competitions. “These shows are extremely important,” said Jad, after winning back-to-back Sunday feature classes with his upcoming horse Leonidas on the Derby fields as part of ESP’s Annual Show Series. “Part of our job is to compete and produce the horses we have, and I don’t think that we can really function out of Wellington efficiently without the shows.”

Jad, 29, is based in Wellington with Burr Associates and US Olympic champion Leslie Howard who has been his mentor for some years. The Lebanese show jumper returned to base a month ago, after spending time in Socrates, Ocala and Ottawa where he won a $31,100 CSI5* 1.50m aboard Fleur de Lis’ Cherie during the Major League Show Jumping Competition.

Canada is where Jad’s journey stateside began. His riding roots come from his father, Mohammed’s riding facility in Lebanon. But Jad also has an Economics degree and while studying for it, he spent some time training at a show jumping barn in Holland. The owner there was friends with the President of Spruce Meadows, Linda Southern-Heathcott and this connection led to Jad’s arrival in Canada at Spruce Meadows in 2017.

The purpose-built Canadian show facility, just outside Calgary, Alberta was a place Jad had only visited vicariously while watching top riders compete there via livestream. “Everything that I used to see on TV was just right in front of me and that was just crazy,” Jad recalled. “I lived at Spruce Meadows – when I walked out of my room and I see that I’m at Spruce Meadows – it took quite some time to really believe that was happening.”

It was the catalyst for a career that now sees him ranked 141st worldwide – a rapid ascension through the ranks that has been instrumented by his luck in landing a job with Leslie.

“I got the opportunity to go and ride at Spruce Meadows and that was an opportunity of a lifetime,” he said. “I got to jump some really big classes with some very big horses and when I was there the owner of Spruce Meadows hired Leslie Howard to train me.”

Three years ago, Leslie accepted a request from Jad, to visit her in Wellington. A two-week stay extended to the present time after Leslie offered Jad a position as a working student in March 2020. What followed was proof, if it were needed, that hard work and talent pay dividends.

“I was doing the barn. I took horses to the ring,” Jad said. “I was grooming for Leslie, but at the same time she used to give me at least three lessons a day whether it was flatting or jumping. Then she offered me the position to run the barn and things started kicking off for me.

“When you have someone like Leslie by your side who has been there and done that, she knows what it takes and she creates my path for me. She guides me like nothing else and I have full trust in her, not only because she’s an incredible rider and trainer but as a person. I don’t think there’s anyone like her. She’s one in a million.”

So it’s Wellington for now for Jad and his focus is on his clients and younger six and seven-year old horses – as well as Leonidas who is now eight but has been with Jad since he was six. “He’s very competitive,” Jad said, after he and Leonidas won the $10,000 1.40m Stake at the weekend ahead of 12 other entries, including his other ride, Know It All, with whom he finished third. “He [Leonidas] is a big horse, but he’s very athletic. He has a lot of blood,” continued Jad. “He’s a very sweet horse, he tries a lot in the ring and yeah, we have high hopes for him.” Colombia’s Juan Manuel Gallego on Niagara D’ive Z took runner up in the three-strong jump off played out on the Derby Annex field in the Equestrian Village.

The ESP Annual Series continues through October and November and doubtless Jad will be featuring. “Our base is Wellington,” he said. “It’s not like we have another farm up north like many people do, this is our home farm. So when we go to shows like up north and what not, we go up for two weeks and we stay at the horse show, and then we base out of here. So these shows in Wellington are super important.”