Scott Brash MBE and Ben Maher MBE take 2nd & 3rd in the $280,000 Grand Prix in Wellington, Florida
Monday 24 February 2014
Scott Brash MBE with Lady Pauline Kirkham and Lady Pauline Harris’s Ursula XII and Ben Maher MBE with Jane F Clark’s Cella narrowly missed out on taking the lion share of the $280,000 that was on offer in the CSI 4* Grand Prix in Wellington, Florida at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival yesterday, 23rd February.
It was only five competitors, spanning three nations, that managed to achieve a clear in the first round and qualify for the jump off with both Scott Brash and Ben Maher representing Great Britain (world No.1 and No.2 ranked riders respectively) along with Audrey Coulter and Brianne Goutal for the USA and Danielle Goldstein for Israel.
It was home rider Audrey Coulter, aged 21 years, and her horse Acorte that managed to produce the winning round with a clear in a time of 40.51 seconds. It was only Scott and Ben that managed to match her performance by putting in a clear in the jump off, but unfortunately neither of them were able to catch her time with Scott and Ursula XII, owned by Lady Pauline Kirkham and Lady Pauline Harris, stopping the clock in a time of 41.11 seconds. Their time was just fractionally faster than Ben’s and Jane F Clark’s grey mare Cella (with whom he won Team Gold and Individual Bronze with at the European Championships last year) who broke the finish line in a time of 41.31seconds.
Talking afterwards, World No.1 ranked rider Scott gave credit to Audrey’s performance by commenting “She did a fantastic job today and she thoroughly deserves the win. She was very very fast. I watched her on the screen outside the ring and it was a perfect round”. Referring to Ursula he further commented “I was very pleased with my horse today. She has been so consistent throughout the tour and this is actually her last class in Wellington. She goes home soon so I’m happy we have finished on a good note”.
Ben Maher, World No.2 ranked rider further credited Audrey’s win before acknowledging Cella’s performance by saying “She is just coming up to these ranks and I wish I had been doing this well when I was 21 years old. Regarding Cella, she was incredible again today. I just didn’t quite have the jump-off I really wanted. It wasn’t smooth, it was kind of one of those rounds where I wanted to, but couldn’t get going. It was as fast as I could go, and Audrey was way too fast, and I knew it would not be possible to catch her”.
kjk7q3j4yode.jpg "British riders feature strongly in the Pony Grand Prix of Compiegne")
