News

500.000 dollar Grand Prix for Ben Maher

Apr 3, 2016

The 2016 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) concluded with an exciting international showdown Saturday night as Great Britain's Ben Maher and Jane Clark's Sarena jumped to victory in the $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI 5*. Maher and Sarena topped a seven-horse jump-off, with McLain Ward (USA) and HH Azur in second, and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (GER) and Fibonacci 17 third.
Forty of the circuit's best horses and riders representing 13 different countries jumped for the winter's top prize competing under the lights in front of a packed house at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, FL.
Chloe Reid (USA) and Codarco were the first combination to clear the course in round one, but opted not to continue on to the jump-off to automatically finish seventh. Yann Candele (CAN) and the Watermark Group's First Choice 15 were then the first pair to jump the short course, finishing with 12 faults in 52.31 seconds to place sixth. Jessica Springsteen (USA) and Stone Hill Farm's Cynar Va jumped next, with eight faults in 48.69 seconds to finish fifth.
McLain Ward and HH Azur, owned by Double H Farm and Francois Mathy, jumped off next, finishing with a fast time in 46.10 seconds, but added an unfortunate four faults that left the pair in second place. Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum aimed for a safe clear round aboard Artemis Equestrian Farm's Fibonacci 17, but also dropped a rail along the way, finishing third overall with her time of 51.41 seconds. Maher and Sarena followed, completing the only clear round over the second course for the win with a steady round in 53.72 seconds. Last to go, Todd Minikus (USA) and Two Swans Farm's Babalou 41 had one rail down as well, finishing fourth with their time of 52.63.
Speaking of his winning mount, a ten-year-old Selle Francais mare (s. Calvaro Z), Maher stated, "I have had Serena for just over a year now, and it has been a tough ride. She was a horse that was bought to jump these big classes, but she was young when we got her, and it really took a year to get to know her and for her to get to know me. It has been a lot of hard work and patience from Jane Clark, who supported me the whole way through last year, because I had a lot of disappointing rounds. I told her to stick with me, and we worked hard with the whole team at home. This is the first class she has won, but she picked the right time and I hope there will be many more."
Along with the winner's share of $165,000, Maher was presented the Dennis D. Dammerman Perpetual Trophy.