October 16, 2026 
Blame it on inflation, but $2 million just doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. (Cue the world’s tiniest violin).
In the post-COVID era of show jumping, crossing that $2M line in prize money has become—we’ll not say commonplace—but maybe an “increasingly frequent” occurrence among the upper echelon of the sport.
In 2024, for instance, five show jumpers were in the $2 million+ club: Martin Fuchs (SUI) who won more than $2,355,000 thanks to two, 5* Grands Prix victories that season, including the lucrative Rolex Grand Prix of CHIO Aachen. Max Kühner (AUT) also made just under $2.3 million, while Ben Maher (GBR), Daniel Deusser (GER), and Julien Epaillard (FRA) all hit the $2 million threshold easily.
The trend continued into 2025, when we saw not only Kent Farrington (USA) make well over $2.7 million, but Simon Delestre (FRA) and Gilles Thomas (BEL)—then just 27 years old—earned their $2 million club jackets for the first time.
Not to be outdone, that same year, two-time Olympic team gold medalist Scott Brash—the only Rolex Grand Slam winner in history—looked around the podium and said “hold my magnum champagne bottle” before becoming the sport’s only athlete to win more than $3 million in a single season.
He did so handily, pocketing a whopping $3.9 million thanks to 5* wins in the LGCT Grand Prix of Shanghai, the Longines Grand Prix of Switzerland, the LGCT Grand Prix of St. Tropez/Ramatuelle, the Grand Prix of the City of Barcelona, and the CPKC ‘International’ at Spruce Meadows, presented by Rolex, for which Brash earned more than $1.2 million, alone.
But a new year brings new possibilities, and also, a changing of the $3 million guard. (By the way, we’ve got our eye on a $3 million woman for 2027: Laura Kraut? Lillie Keenan? Sophie Hinners? Nina Mallevaey? All our hopes rest with you.)
Ben Maher (GBR) is the only rider to earn over the $2M mark in 2026, winning nearly $2,273,000 so far. But this year has also witnessed the crowning of only the second $3 million man in history: Richard Vogel, the reigning European Champion, World Championships team gold medalist, World No. 1 and—it appears for the next few months, at least—the wealthiest rider in show jumping.
And boy, does the aptly named ‘Richie’ Vogel have a fleet of world-class stallions backing his play.
His deep bench includes a living legend: the 14-year-old Westphalian United Touch S; as well as the 12-year-old Holsteiner, Cloudio, who was recently part of the winning German squad at Longines League of Nations Finals (pictured); and the 10-year-old Selle Français prodigy, Gangster Montdesir.
But the German rider’s penchant for riding fast, taking (mostly measured) risks, and rolling with the unavoidable ups and downs of the sport are also an essential part of Vogel’s secret sauce, helping him to six, 5* victories already this year.
These include the FEI Jumping World Cup™ qualifier in Basel, the Rolex Grand Prix at the Dutch Masters, and the Rolex Grand Prix of CHIO Aachen with United Touch; and the Week 5 Grand Prix in Wellington, the AON Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows, and the Rolex Grand Prix at the Brussels Stephex Masters aboard Gangster Montdesir.
All that is to say, Richie Vogel is, if nothing else, in the market for a good financial planner these days. But one question remains: with the majority of European indoor season still to come, can the $3 milliond man go further still?
We’ll sure love watching him try.
