Text © World of Showjumping

Great Britain’s Ben Maher – 2024 Olympic team gold medallist and current world number two – and the 11-year-old stallion Point Break (Action-Breaker x Balou du Rouet) won Friday’s CSIO5* 1.60m €200,000 RWE Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia at the 2025-edition of CHIO Aachen, besting a field of 43 horse-and-rider combinations.

The German course designer Frank Rothenberger had put together another demanding track – counting 13 obstacles and 17 efforts with the time allowed set to 80 seconds – for Friday’s feature class at Soers. The triple-vertical-oxer triple combination at no. 7abc and the line with the open water at fence no. 9 caused a fair share of havoc, but it was the double of planks at 12ab that turned into a real headache for the riders.

Germany’s very own Olympic Champion Christian Kukuk and the 10-year-old Chageorge (Chacco-Blue x Sanvaro) were the pathfinders, and with a foot in the water they set the tone for what was to follow. “The longer the class went on, the more you understood how good that round actually was, and how easy my horse actually made it look; it was only the two centimetres missing on the open water,” Kukuk – eventually good enough to complete the podium in third – said afterwards. “I was very happy when I came out. I was not expecting to be on the podium, but I was pretty sure that I at least would be in the top ten. I am very, very happy with the third place today. Honestly, when I walked the course, I kind of said that this double of verticals with the two planks on top in the end would probably kill the class – and I was right.”

With no clear rounds over the halfway point, Greece’s 27-year-old Ioli Mytilineou and La Perla vd Heffinck (Cooper van de Heffinck x Contact van de Heffinck) entered the arena as number 36 to go and made seemingly light work of the challenging course when posting the first clear. It looked like there would be no one able to challenge Mytilineou in this last qualifier for Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix, but as last to go Ben Maher and Point Break were foot-perfect to secure a jump-off – much to the appreciation of the crowd at Soers. 

Returning in reverse order for the jump-off, Maher – with the slower first round – was the first out. With a stylish round in 46.78 seconds, Maher passed the pressure on to Mytilineou, who as last to go had to settle the 2025 RWE Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia-title. With the second fence on the floor, she handed the win to Maher, while Kukuk placed third, followed by Stephan de Freitas Barcha (BRA) and Dinozo Imperio Egipcio (Diamant de Semilly x Urbain du Monnai) in fourth and Tom Schewe (GER) aboard Lorenzo ES (Comme Il Faut x Casall) in fifth as the fastest four-faulters from round one.

“Point Break has been with me since he was six; he is an incredible athlete and has proved over recent months that he belongs in these kind of competitions,” Maher said after his win. “You never know how a horse reacts to this atmosphere and this was his first big test this week. It was a difficult course, I think the riders all would agree. Point Break is very with me and he listens, and the slightly unnatural turn to the water jump and then the double of planks needed all the quality.”  

“I think we had a little bit of everything,” Maher analysed the course. “The short line three to four suited me, the triple combination up the hill to the triple bar with the black vertical in the middle and then immediately, I’d say, an unnatural curve to a vertical before the water jump caused a few problems today. Point Break doesn’t have so much experience in this kind of arena so I made sure to stay very wide to that line so that he had plenty of time to get his eye on that jump.”

“He is a fast horse, but he needs to go fast within his rhythm, the idea was to just put enough pressure on Ioli after me and then hope that would be enough for today, and leave enough energy for Sunday,” he said about his strategy for the jump-off. “So far everything is going to plan.”

“I was the only clear for a long time, but it is very rare the only clear wins, especially at a show like this,” the second placed Mytilineou – who is doing her Aachen-debut this weekend – said.  “I am really proud of my mare. When I walked the course I thought it might be too much.”

“I was going to go in and just do my own plan, but obviously when you watch one you have a bit more of an idea,” she said about her plan for the jump-off. “Unfortunately I had the second fence down, so I knew I had lost the lead and then I just rode around to make her feel comfortable and finish the course in a nice way.”