FEI World Cup Dressage, London Olympia 2011 - Sunday 18th / Monday 19th
by Helen Revington
Ben Maher and Triple X III in The World Cup
The excitement that permeates the arena for the Rolex FEI World Cup at Olympia is almost palpable. Europe's best show jumping horses and riders go head to head over a veritable forest of fences, many of which are standing at maximum height and spread. The horses would be asked for fifteen jumping efforts over fences as high as 1.60m (5' 3") with spreads as wide as 2.20m (7' 3") in an arena which is only 70m long by 26m wide.
Course builder Bob Ellis had estimated that eight of the 34 horses would jump clear so his heart must have been in his mouth when the first four horses jumped without fault - it looked as if the afternoon might last a very long time! Bob later commented, "These guy's are so good it wouldn't matter what I built, they'd still jump it!"
A mid-field dearth of clear rounds meant that eventually eleven horses went through to the second round including Spain's only contestant, 19-year-old Manuel Anon, and the only non-European competitor, Laura Kraut from the U.S.A. First to go in the jump off, Manuel rode with wisdom above his years and only rolled one pole in a fast time of 41.51. The first clear, although almost a second slower than Manuel, went to Irishman Demott Lennon and Hallmark Elite. Sabrina 327, ridden by Germany's Marcus Ehning seemed to sprout wings and springs, turning in a seemingly unbeatable time of 39.05 seconds.
Triple X III turning to the final two fences
The following three riders were forced into mistakes trying to catch Marcus and with only two to go, victory must have looked assured to Marcus, but Britain's Ben Maher had second thoughts. His fantastic black stallion Triple X III astounded the crowd with an utterly foot perfect round, storming down the very difficult long run from the third to the fourth and turning on a sixpence to get from the sixth to the final two fences, shaving an all important 0.34 seconds off of Marcus' time.
Still only nine-years-old, Triple X III has a particular place in Ben's heart as Ben explained, "I competed his mother, I bred him, saw him born, broke him and took him to his first show - have done everything with him. I consider myself extremely lucky and blessed; some people spend a lifetime trying to achieve what we have achieved with our third homebred horse. He is amazing and still getting better and better - it is unbelievable how he has improved in the last year."
With the only other clear round, Dermott Lennon took third place, ahead of Laura Kraut and Cedric. Hopefully, we will see all four horses competing in England again next year - in the Olympic games -maybe the only competition to hold more prestige than the Rolex FEI World Cup!
For further pictures please go to Stephen Sparkes Photography.
© Sue Wingate - The Joy of Horses 2011