December 17, 2023 
With eight legs of the Western European League on the books and six still to come, there’s plenty of jumping left in the World Cup season. But Ben Maher has all but booked his ticket the World Cup Final.
The reigning Olympic champion has jumped to podium finishes in four of the five World Cup qualifiers he’s contested to date and on two different horses. As of Sunday at London International Horse Show, he’s jumped into the standings lead by a massive 17-point margin.
Maher added another 20 points to his total with the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ London, besting an 11 horse jump-off that included five of the world top 15 (Maher, Julien Epaillard, Max Kühner, Daniel Coyle, and Conor Swail); two former world no. 1s (Peder Fredricson and Scott Brash); and the 2022 London Grand Prix winning combination (Matt Sampson and Ebolensky).
It was the closest race on the podium this World Cup season yet, too. Just eight tenths of second separated the top three.
Coyle set the speedy standard over Guilherme Jorge’s short course when he shaved two seconds off the then leading time set by Julien Epaillard (FRA) and Donatello d’Auge to stop the clock 37.99 seconds. Brash (GBR) and Hello Jefferson shaved another .19 seconds off in an unbeatable looking 37.80, only to have Maher steal the win on Enjeu de Grisien in 37.18.
“It was always going to be a fast class with Julien Epaillard going early. He’s a very fast rider and it was one of those classes where it was a huge advantage to go at the end of the draw,” said Maher.
“I had my plan, regardless of what Scott or Daniel had done before me, and I took the jumps on the exact angles that I wanted. I felt the double was the hardest for us to jump, but then Enjeu de Grisien showed his athleticism by taking six strides to the next jump as opposed to the seven that Scott had taken before. I came in wide to the penultimate fence, so I could get the turn back to the last that I wanted, and everything just went my way today.”
At just nine, Enjeu de Grisien has only jumped three rounds at the 1.60m height prior. The Selle Francais gelding helped Maher to a second place finish in the World Cup in Madrid in November and has a 33% top 10 finish average at the height (Jumpr App). That stat jumps to 50% at 1.55m.
“I’ve brought him along carefully since he was seven years old, he had four months off at the beginning of the year when I wasn’t able to ride [due to a shoulder injury]. Today was one of those jump-offs where I didn’t have to be too quick over the first three jumps. But then I used his stride really to go, and in the end you don’t have that opportunity (to win) every week or every year. It’s about taking the opportunities when they are there, and today he was ready!”
There is one rider Maher felt a tiny bit bad about beating though…
“The Longines FEI Jumping World Cup is the class that everyone wants to win here. I feel for Scott because it is hard when you ride such a great round and then the next rider beats you, but it has been the other way around many times before!
“The jump-off and the sport was certainly at its best today.”
Maher now leads the standings with 72 points. Countryman Harry Charles sits second on 55 and Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann, third on 51.
The Western European League continues Dec 30 at Mechelen, Belgium.
