“I GUESS 2019 can’t really be repeated. It was probably my best year yet,” said British show jumper Ben Maher days after winning the €1.25 million Super Grand Prix in Prague.

The world number four won three legs on the Global Champions Tour, which helped him secure the overall title on the way to that additional lucrative win in Prague.

Victory in front of his home crowd in London was followed by back-to-back wins in his ‘lucky town’ Rome before he wowed the cosmopolitan crowd in New York to win the inaugural Grand Prix.

That is, of course, as well as winning two medals at the FEI European Championships – team bronze and individual silver, the Global Champions League series win with London Knights, a third place finish in the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen, and he was also on the winning British team at the Dublin Horse Show in August.

But one could argue that he heads in 2020, and all-important Olympic year, firing on all cylinders with much more to come. An Olympic medal, to add to the team gold he has in his trophy cabinet from London, might challenge 2019 as the best yet.

Maher was vital in the redemption of Team GB after a rough couple of years for Di Lampard’s team. They failed to get Olympic qualification at the 2018 WEG and then came to Dublin looking for a last chance qualification for the FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona and duly delivered with Maher and Scott Brash back in the team after some time.

“We don’t have a lot of depth and strength in the team (Team GB) at the moment,” Maher told The Irish Field.

“When the small few that we have pull together, like myself and Scott (Brash) did this year, we will do our best to try to pull the team together.”

Of all the highlights, the Super Grand Prix victory stands out as he had a point to prove at the venue. “Every goal that we set out to achieve, barring a couple, have been achieved. It has been a memorable year and a lot of credit goes to the team, owners and horses.

“Prague for me at the end though was the highlight, it was memorable for me on different reasons. I didn’t have a great show there last year. It was important that I went and improved. It’s a high pressure event and I was last to go. For the people outside of the ring – my family and friends, it was really great.”

Explosion W

The arrival of Explosion W to Poden Farms in 2016 was the start of what Maher hopes will result in a gold medal at next summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games. Maher began his partnership with Neil Moffitt’s Poden Farms, coaching his daughter Emily and riding their horses, almost four years ago.

The 10-year-old Chacco-Blue sired gelding, who is the top-ranked horse in the WBFSH rankings for 2019 and has earned €1.29 million in the last 365 days, made his Nations Cup debut in 2018 under another British rider, Emily Mason, who also rode for Poden Farms, before Maher took over.

“I think the biggest thing that makes him so special is that he really loves to do the job he does,” Maher explained. “He is incredibly natural. He is natural the way he does everything. He is a very big horse but you wouldn’t know unless you are standing beside him.

“He is very light on his feet, very quick and intelligent, and those are the things that maybe give him the edge over other horses. Why does Michael Phelps swims so fast? I don’t know. He is just incredible.”

Maher can breathe easier now knowing that the horse will live with him “indefinitely” following the news that his American owners Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright bought the horse in recent weeks for a fee rumoured to be between £10-15 million.

“I am lucky to have Explosion for a big year ahead. That wasn’t 100% the case until recently,” he said, adding that his groom, Irish man Cormac Kenny, plays a huge role in keeping the horse happy and healthy.

“Cormac has been with me a long time now. He (Explosion) is on the road a lot and I don’t always see him so Cormac plays a big role in riding him and keeping him fit, he really understands him in between events.

“He is the easiest horse in the stable. He likes one-on-one attention and he thrives on confidence, and it is all about keeping him mentally happy too.”

Future

Despite the arrival of Ireland’s Cameron Hanley to Poden Farms as part of Emily’s coaching team, Maher puts rumours that he is moving away from the Moffitt family firmly to bed.

“There have been a lot of rumours but I am still Emily Moffitt’s trainer, I still riding horses for Poden Farms and I am still the manager of the London Knights team.

“Cameron Hanley joined the group because I am not capable of doing everything. They have a big programme and I was struggling to manage everything. I have other horses and other owners. Cameron is a second set of eyes. He will go to some of the shows with Emily but other than that there is no change and we still keep that relationship.

“At this moment, I make all the plans. Emily has come on hugely since I started with them four years ago next February. Their team has grown hugely. She is at a lot of the same competitions as me, which sometimes makes it very difficult when I am trying to ride as well, so we have to adapt.

“We have had people in Cameron’s position in the past but it was just not as publicised, and now we needed more experience.”

Maher is competing at the London Olympia Horse Show this weekend and flies to Florida on Monday morning to spend Christmas with his girlfriend, American show jumper Sophie Gracida, and her family. He will spend the beginning of the year in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

However, we won’t see him in the ring until March as he undergoes a small operation on his back in early January. “Nothing serious,” he confirmed.

Second home

“America has become a bit of my second home. Some of my owners are American and I spend some very valuable time. It is nice to live a little bit of a normal lifetime for a couple of months, without hotels and flights.

“Going to Florida used to give us access to bigger Grands Prix and prize money, but it has changed a little to building the group for when the season really starts. I go between three farms – Jane Clark’s, Poden Farms, and my girlfriend’s farm.”

Explosion W will also be on the plane to Florida, but will not do too much jumping with a heavy back end of the year to come.

“Explosion will go to Florida but he will probably jump very little. His new owners are American and they can visit him.”

And will he do as many of the Global Champions Tour classes in 2020, in an attempt to retain his title? “I haven’t made a plan for him just yet. He does better for jumping, the more he jumps the better he is. I will structure the year a little different, we started a little late this year.

“I have to look over the calendar a little. The Olympics will be the priority. He will compete on the Global Tour but probably a little less.”

All going well, Tokyo will be Maher’s fourth Olympic Games. He was part of the British team who finished fifth at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, as the age of 25, and then won gold at London 2012 with the wonderful Tripple X.

He was on the British team in Rio de Janeiro with Tic Tac and hopes to be on the flight to Tokyo. “An Olympic medal is next year’s goal and we will do our best to achieve that. Be it individual or team, I aim high so I will make sure it is gold, as a goal,” he said.

The Maher team are getting ready to relax and take stock of the year over Christmas, before knuckling down for 2020.

“I fly straight to America on Monday morning after Olympia and spend a week there. I fly back after the New Year to have a small operation. We will take some time off and try to enjoy the year that we have had. It has been pretty full on for the whole team. I will spend some time with people I don’t see that often.”

Aga Khan glory! The British team of (l-r) Scott Brash, Holly Smith, chef d'equipe Di Lampard, Emily Moffitt and Ben Maher at the 2019 Dublin Horse Show \ Laurence Dunne Jumpinaction.net