Stockholm Hearts claimed the 2024 Global Champions League Super Cup on Saturday. But the undisputed MVP is a horse that wasn’t atop the podium.
With a bye into the Semi Finals earned via their top three finish over the regular season, Malin Baryard-Johnsson on H&M Indiana, Nicola Philippaerts with Katanga v/h Dingeshof and Julien Epillard aboard Donatello d’Auge secured the €6.5 million GCL Super Cup crown with a single fault over the two-round Final.
Donatello d’Auge was the standout star of the team, jumping clear over three rounds of competition in the Semi-Final and Final.
But two horses worked harder this week in Riyadh.
Shanghai Swans, runners up on the GCL Final podium, had the two most consistent horses of the week—and GCL history.
Jumping the Quarter, Semi and Final, Ben Maher’s Point Break and Daniel Deusser’s Killer Queen VDM became the first horses in Super Cup history to jump quadruple clear rounds, leaving all rails up over four gruelling 1.60m rounds.
It’s an incredible achievement to be sure. It’s even more so in context of total rounds jumped this month.
What pushes Point Break into MVP status over Killer Queen VDM is the sheer number of times he’s done it this month. In the past 30 days, Killer Queen VDM jumped one 5* event, the GCL Playoffs in Riyadh. Point Break has jumped three—and dropped a single rail throughout.
Since the end of October, Maher and the 10-year-old Swedish warmblood stallion have contested 5* events in Lyon, Verona and Riyadh—and were clear in 6 of 7 total 1.60m rounds.
They won the Equita Masters at Lyon and were double clear in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup of Verona the following week for second. This week at the GCL Playoffs in Riyadh they were foot perfect over four 1.60m courses and four days.
That’s a phenomenal 86% clear rate and top two finish average in the month of November (Jumpr stats).
The 10-year-old Swedish warmblood stallion (Action Breaker x Balou du Rouet) was Maher’s first pick for the Paris Olympics, but was an eleventh hour swap for the more experienced 11-year-old mare Dallas Vegas Batilly. At the time, Maher said: “Point Break is an incredible horse. He’s only ten years old and his time will come.”
That time appears to be November.