Reigning Olympic champion Ben Maher (GBR) claimed victory in the CHF216,000 ($234,176 USD) NetJets CSI4* Grand Prix in front of a packed Wellington International crowd during “Saturday Night Lights” on January 28. The Wellington Equestrian Festival (WEF) welcomed 45 international combinations to vie for top honors during the NetJets-sponsored WEF 3.

Course designer Peter Grant (CAN) built a testing track that started with a bang as five early clears promised a thrilling second round. Eventually, the code was cracked on his course with fourteen advancing to a tie-breaking jump-off. Talent from Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and the United States made up the list of riders with their eye on the prize over the short course.

Appearing halfway through the original order, Maher clocked his clear round aboard Dallas Vegas Batilly, a 2013 Selle Français mare (Cap Kennedy x L’arc de Triomphe) owned by Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright. He returned in the jump-off to chase down current leader and Irish Olympian Shane Sweetnam aboard Namaste van het Eyckeveld, owned by Voquest LLC. By one tenth of a second, Maher unseated Sweetnam from the top of the leaderboard and posted an eventual winning time of 38.35 seconds.

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