Enjeu De Grisien and Ben Maher are the last and the best
Great Britain’s Ben Maher made the most of his vantage point as last to go in the jump off for the CSI5* $116,100 WEF Challenge Round 9 with Enjeu De Grisien. “It’s always great to go at the end of the jump-off with an experienced horse,” he said. “I got to see a little of what the others were doing with it.”
Ben and the 12-year old Selle Francais gelding, owned by Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright, that he has partnered with for five years, jumped clear in a time of 36.39 seconds knocking Egypt’s Nayel Nassar and Esi Ali into second with their time of 37 seconds. “Enjeu is not the fastest horse in the first round, but in the jump off you can use his stride, let him go quick,” said Ben, who took a risk that paid off to finish the round. “I took a little bit of a chance on the second last, and a stride out to the last fence, and I think he actually jumped it better on the one less ride.”
Ben may have gleaned some intel from going last but his strategy, he said, of late is to stick to his own plan. “I watched Mimi go just to get a bit of a gauge for the time,” he said, referring to Mimi Gochman who set the pace at the start of the jump off, with a clear round in 37.89 seconds aboard Iron Maiden. “I had my plan, and this year I’ve tried to work on just riding my own plan and not watching what everybody else does.”
Enjeu has had to step it up of late, and this win proved that he can rise to the occasion. “He’s been an amazing horse for the last…well he’s always been an amazing horse,” said Ben. “But he was a little bit in the shadow of some of my other horses. “
Those horses – Point Break and Dallas Vegas Batilly – are coming back to the fray but in their absence Enjeu has filled their shoes. “He’s had to hold the fort for a bit on his own,” said Ben. “And he’s really shone in that number one spot. He’s had some great results, and was knocking on the door of a win more recently, but I was able to go quick in the jump off today because he’s not jumping on Saturday evening,” Ben said referring to Saturday Night Lights’ upcoming $500,000 Grand Prix – the climax of week nine of the Winter Equestrian Festival at Wellington International.
Congratulating him on his win was a small posse of supporters including Ben’s wife Sophie and his son Cooper. Enjeu is clearly a favorite and enjoyed plenty of attention after the win. “He’s very sharp in the ring and very energetic,” said Ben. “But he’s the sweetest, kindest horse. Outside the ring he’s the calmest horse – walking him up here you have to kind of drag him along because he’s sunbathing half the time. We’ve had him since he was seven years old, we know him well and he’s been an amazing horse for the team. He’s so versatile in every kind of arena, every kind of Grand Prix or speed class and it’s pretty hard to find a special horse like that.”
The suggestion was made that he could be a horse for Cooper some day. “That’s a scary thought,” said Ben, joking that “Cooper likes to ride fast and he’s a fast horse, we may never see him again.”
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