June 21, 2026 
In The Netherlands on Sunday, the jump off for the Huawei Grand Prix of Rotterdam was flush with riders and their mounts—11 of them—so much so that this journalist, 4,582 miles away as the crow flies, found herself running around her yard in Wellington, Florida, excitedly recruiting people to watch it.
How often do you get to see Nina Mallevaey, William Greve, Rodrigo Pessoa, Richard Vogel, Ben Maher, and Martin Fuchs in the same jump off?
And don’t forget those lower in the rankings that put up incredible clear rounds to add themselves to the star-studded jump off.
Jason Smith, riding for Switzerland, put in the first clear of the day, though he finds himself ranked at 254th in the world. Federico Fernandez (no. 199) of Mexico showed up with his longtime partner Romeo. And Katie Dinan (no. 142) of USA with the Spy Coast-bred Out of the Blue SCF, a partnership that wowed in the Longines League of Nations competition on Friday, a partnership that keeps getting better and better. And Luke Dee! Who is Luke Dee? From New Zealand and currently ranked 336th in the world, he showed up in style and slotted himself into the last spot in the jump off.
It was set to go. The first round began with 49 entries and was besieged by an annoying delicate and nearly invisible silver-rail-topped vertical that came right after the triple bar. Rained down, it did, all afternoon long!
But with a field this strong, double-digits figured out how to leave it up.
I should also mention that this jump off was not only filled with enviable riders but also enviable stallions. William Greve had Grandorado TN NOP. Richard Vogel had the infatuation-inducing Cloudio. Jason Smith’s Picobello van’t Roosakker showed all week long why you might want one of his babies. And of course Ben Maher had Point Break.
First to return was Smith. Course designer Bart Vonck of Belgium (who a google search tells me is an IT Director by day, as well as an international horseman) did not make it easy, with a looping course full of rollbacks, a tight double oxer-vertical, and a delicate vertical at the last that did not treat well an all-out gallop to it (dang!).
Riders and horses were slicing and dicing, wheeling around in tight inside turns!
But back to Smith and Picobello. Their round was smooth and clear, stopping the timer at 44.41 seconds.
“Too slow,” predicted many of us and the next to go proved it.
Mallevaey and Destine to Be crossed the finish at 42.42, the fastest time of the day. But that dang last-fence vertical did not, as predicted, reward an all-out gallop.
Fernandez and Romeo went next without much luck, pulling two rails and clocking in at 52.74.
Greve and Grandorado came next, clear and fast, jumping ahead of Smith at 43.97. The hometown crowed delighted in their performance.
Next, an emotional favorite entered the ring. His father, Nelson Pessoa, won the Rotterdam Grand Prix in 1966 aboard Caribe, an Argentinian-bred horse. Now, 60 years later, could we get a Pessoa back on the podium?
Too much of a push at that port-themed, container-ship wall gave Rodrigo an unfortunate four faults.
Next up was USA’s Dinan, who chose to preserve her horse with a slow and careful clear round, clocking in at 55.77.
The Netherland’s Mathijs van Asten had a bit of bad luck and took out two fences.
Next the glorious Cloudio and his rider, Vogel. A beautiful clear round, but, at 44.20, too slow to make the podium.
Now, Maher and his stallion Point Break. After winning the Longines League of Nations, Team Great Britain was feeling itself, and Maher had the added benefit of a fresh horse, having ridden gelding Catelly in the team event.
And they did it, fast and clear, not even allowing the double, which they entered too quick, I thought, too quick! But no, not too quick—that oxer heading to the vertical caused no problem at all and they came as close to an all-out gallop as you could to the last while still leaving it up. They scored a time of 42.98.
But we still had two to go—fearsome Fuchs with Fortjump du Beaumenil, an 11-year-old gelding by Cornet Obolensky. I didn’t know the horse and couldn’t predict it. Clear and fast they were, edging out Cloudio and Vogel, but leaving Greve and Maher above them. But surely a podium finish, because all we had left was the unknown New Zealander, Luke Dee and his 10-year-old Gangster WW.
Only Dee and Gangster WW attack the course like everyone knows their names. With a final time of 43.14, they put themselves above Greve and behind Maher, knocking Fuchs off the podium into fourth.
So it was another British victory in Rotterdam. Maher took the win, but Dee won the day!
