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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Ben Maher and Michael Murphy win at WEF

WELLINGTON, Fla.--Former Olympic Champion Ben Maher of Great Britain on Corlander won the $62,500, CSI4* 1.50m Classic and also placed fifth while competing on the Derby Field  on Sunday, Feb. 2 during the Winter Equestrian Festival week 4.

Ben Maher on Corlander SportfotBen Maher on Corlander (Photo by Sportfot)In an exciting jump-off in which the top five were separated by just over a second, Maher finished clean in 38.17 to beat Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts on Derby de Riverland by a half second.

From a starting field of 39, 13 went clean, and of those, six were clean in the jump-off over a course set by Anderson Lima of Brazil.

Philippaerts on Derby de Riverland had won the WEF Challenge Cup earlier in the week, and he finished clean again in the Classic in 39.57 seconds.

Cian O’Connor of Ireland on Belvedere was third, clean in 39.91, 3/10ths of a second farther back.

Nina Malleyvaey of France on Nikka VD Bisschop was fourth, clean in 40.20, with Maher on Ginger Blue fifth, clean in 40.31.

Nicole Walker of Canada on Panter JVH, who chose to go slower to ensure a clean round and a good ribbon, was sixth, clean in 48.54.

 

THE MURPHYS of Wellington had a good afternoon on the Derby Field with Michael Murphy on Kaida CM winning the $62,500, CSI2* Grand Prix and his wife Lauren on Voltanos placing third in a seven horse jump-off from a starting field of 32..

Michael Murphy on Kaida CM SportfotMichael Murphy on Kaida CM (Photo by Sportfot)Murphy finished clean in 37.26 with Carlee McCutcheon on Aralyn Blue second, clean in 39.04, and Lauren Murphy thitd, clean in 41.39.

“My horse is so quick,”said Murphy, who has been riding the mare for a year. “If she's clean, she's quick. She's better when she can gallop. When I try to ride her too slow and make her too traditional, it's not her style.”

She won a three-star grand prix over the summer, and she’s won a few ranking classes,” he said. “She has a lot of blood, so it's been taking a long time to learn how to manage that.”

“You can only make her do something one out of five times," said Murphy. "She's a really strong-willed mare and some days she wants to be put back in the stall or turned out in the paddock. You have to listen to her. If you don't listen to her, she'll make you listen.”

Michael Murphy found the mare through six-time U.S. Olympian Mclain Ward and Stonehenge Stables’ Max Amaya, originally intending her for an amateur rider.

Since the first day he sat on her, it’s been a range of highs and lows, but he’s pleased it’s becoming far more highs than lows now that he knows the horse better.

“I love the Derby Field," he said. "We base here in the summer, so we get the show out here all the time. I think the horses are happy to be over here, and for them it's a good breath of fresh air. And it's great jumping on grass; we don't get to do that as often anymore.”

As someone who spends most of his year in Wellington, Murphy enjoys having world-class riders competing during the winter months.

“It makes you raise your level,” he said. “There's more riders here, and it takes more to win. The quality riders, they push you, which is great. It makes you ride better.”

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