International show jumping returned to the International Arena at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) on Thursday, February 10, 2022 during WEF 5, presented by Fidelity Investments®. All eyes were on the $75,000 Adequan® WEF Challenge Cup Round V CSI5* as 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon team gold medalist Adrienne Sternlicht (USA) and Benny’s Legacy emerged as the class winners. The 2022 WEF continues through April 3 with top jumper, hunter, and equitation competition.
Fifty-six of the world’s best combinations seized the opportunity to challenge Kelvin Bywater’s (GBR) technical track in order to qualify for the grand prix on Saturday night. An even dozen entries representing eight different nations qualified to return for the jump-off. 2020 Olympic gold medalist Ben Maher (GBR) put forth a performance that said ‘come and get me’ from the start as he and Faltic HB were the first to return for the short track with a double-clean effort and tight time of 39.92 seconds. Maher held on to that lead until young professional Adrienne Sternlicht and Starlight Farms 1 LLC’s 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding Benny’s Legacy (Lupicor x Voltaire) found the fastest route in 38.60 seconds.
“The caliber of horses and competition that we have here this year is unparalleled,” said Sternlicht. “I saw McLain [Ward] as I was getting ready to head in for the walk, and he told me the track was challenging, so I had it in my mind I needed to be on my ‘A’ game even before I walked the course. I felt like I let my horse down a bit in the last class we jumped as well, so I was incredibly determined today to be on it and give him the best ride possible.”