August 8, 2025 
Swans in nature can be territorial, noisy, and unfriendly. The Shanghai Swans are anything but.
Ben Maher and Daniel Deusser captured the team’s third win of the Global Champions League 2025 season on Friday. When asked what gave the Swans the competitive edge in London, Maher responded, “We have Daniel on our team today.”
Both riders are former world number ones and opted to campaign different horses over the two round team competition. Deusser delivered clears on both Gangster v/h Noddevelt and Otello de Guldenboom. Maher dropped a pole each on Ginger Blue and Point Break, but held onto their lead over the Basel Cosmopolitans to clinch the win.
“Some days it’s me who jumps clear; that’s the whole idea of a team competition,” Maher said of the dynamic on the Shanghai Swans team. “We are a very tight knit team, we work well together, and having Daniel today on the team, that made the difference. It gives me a lot of confidence. I’m very fortunate with my horses but at the end of the day I believe the real riders come through when you need them. That makes our team very strong with the depth we have.”
Deusser echoed that sentiment.
“At the end, we have a very good team,” he shared. “In the situation today when we were last to go in and there’s only one rider left, it’s good to have someone like Ben behind us. The combination of Point Break and Ben being last to go is definitely a good advantage.”
It was a challenging track, especially as the sunlight disappeared, leading to final scores of 8, 12 (Basel Cosmopolitans), and 12 (Mexico Amigos), for the podium finishers.
“I think the first round walked nice but it rode technical,” Maher remarked. “It came up quick early on. The second round was a little bigger, a little bit more careful jumping than scopey jumping. The light really changed towards the end of the course, which should be a little more even for everybody. You have the best combinations here in the world so you expect clear rounds when it matters.”
With three victories so far in 2025, the Swans sit in third place in the overall standings on 186 points, with seven more stops to go. Valkenswaard United leads the standings on 193, followed by the 2024 team champions Cannes Stars on 187.
“We have on paper a very strong horse-and rider-combinations in the Shanghai Swans,” Deusser continued. “It’s going very well this season. We’ve had very good results but you see these classes and everything is very close together. We have a good plan and we hope until the end of the season we can continue like that. We have a couple riders at home that could help out as well.”
The GCL stops next in Valkenswaard on August 22.
