October 22, 2023 
Eight days ago, Ireland’s Richard Howley logged one of the biggest wins of his career when he topped a 17-horse jump off to win the CSI5*-W Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Oslo.
On Sunday, he did it again in Helsinki.
Thirty-seven pairs contested Guilherme Jorge’s course for the second leg of the Western European League of the FEI Jumping World Cup. Eight advanced to the jump off, among them such lightweights as world no. 1 Henrik von Eckermann (SWE), Olympians Lorenza De Luca (ITL), Leopold Van Asten (NED) and Yuri Mansur (BRA), 2019 European Young Rider champion Philipp Schulze Topphoff (GER) and former World Cup champions Martin Fuchs (SUI) and Daniel Deusser (GER).
If Howley and Consulent de Prelet Z were a suspected speed threat heading into Helsinki, the pair left no doubt about it on Sunday.
In the jump off, Schulze Topphoff, 25, set the time to beat on Carla NRW with a fleet-footed clear in 36.77 seconds. von Eckermann and Dzara Dorchival came close to catching it, crossing the timers in 36.86s. Then Howley and Consulent de Prelet Z destroyed it.
Last to return, the pair sliced to the second, risked the rollback to the third and galloped into the careful double of verticals before racing to the final fence, stopping the clock at 34.18s—some 2.59 seconds faster. Schulze Topphoff was relegated to second and von Eckermann to third.
“Super jump-off. I always want to win, I never want to come second,” said the 31-year-old.
“Competing against these super star riders, you have to be on your best and give everything to win these classes. My horse is incredibly careful so I feel I can dare him maybe a little bit more than other people can their horses. That way I can be a little bit quicker. To canter really fast and slow down as late as possible—a bit like in Formula One, who breaks the last wins the race.”
Howley has had the ride on Consulent de Prelet Z for a year and a half and says the 12-year-old Zangersheide is only getting better.
“He’s in some form and I’m just delighted to be able to have a horse that competes at this level so consistently and makes my job very easy to be honest,” said Howley.
In the space of a week, the gelding’s Jumpr App clear round average at 1.60m has climbed from 36% to 44% while his average faults at the height have dropped from 2.29 to 2.00 even, which is to say they are trending in the right direction and fast.
So are their earnings. In 2022, the pair logged six podium finishes and €45,461 in prize money. In 2023, they’ve made five times that, landing on seven podiums and taking home €232,673.
Howley’s back-to-back wins see him now on 40 points leading the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ League with the highest score possible at this stage.
“I always aim for the Grand Prix, trying to be competitive on the biggest stage and where there are the most money and also points. I really want to ride World Cup Finals. I’ve never done those before, never had the opportunity to do that,” said Howley.
He’s well on track to make that dream come true. There are 12 more qualifiers to come in the 2023/24 season of the Western European League. A rider’s seven best results determine the top 18 that will snag invites to the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Riyadh (KSA) in April.
The Western European season heads to Lyon, France next on November 5.
