Edited press release from Spruce Meadows

It was a beautiful morning to start the Saturday of the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ 2023 and first up on the International Ring was the CSIO5* 1.50m Suncor Winning Round. Only the top 30 qualified riders from earlier in the week were eligible for the competition, with the top ten from round one returning for the Winning Round in reverse order of merit.

A total of 11 nations were represented and of the top ten returning for the Winning Round, eight of those nations were represented. The competition was fierce and first into the ring was Olympic gold medallist Ben Maher (GBR) and Enjeu de Griesien (Toulon x Andiamo, breeder SCEA Elevage de Grisien, owned by Charlotte Rossetter, Pamela Wright and Ben Maher), who posted a quick clear round crossing the finish line in a time of 54.70s – it was now a waiting game. As none of those to follow could catch up with the British Olympian’s time, Maher took top honours to kick off British Day at Spruce Meadows ahead of Darragh Kenny (IRL) and Irwin (Kannan x Paladin Des Ifs) in second and Kara Chad (CAN) aboard Igor GPH (Harley x Crawford 5) in third.