Adrienne Sternlicht aboard Benny’s Legacy. © Sportfot.

Wellington, FL – February 10, 2022 – International show jumping returned to the International Arena at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) on Thursday, February 10 during WEF 5, presented by Fidelity Investments®. All eyes were on the $75,000 Adequan® WEF Challenge Cup Round V CSI5* as 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon team gold medalist Adrienne Sternlicht (USA) and Benny’s Legacy emerged as the class winners.

Fifty-six of the world’s best combinations seized the opportunity to challenge Kelvin Bywater’s (GBR) technical track in order to qualify for the grand prix on Saturday night. An even dozen entries representing eight different nations qualified to return for the jump-off. 2020 Olympic gold medalist Ben Maher (GBR) put forth a performance that said ‘come and get me’ from the start as he and Faltic HB were the first to return for the short track with a double-clean effort and tight time of 39.92 seconds. Maher held on to that lead until young professional Adrienne Sternlicht and Starlight Farms 1 LLC’s 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding Benny’s Legacy (Lupicor x Voltaire) found the fastest route in 38.60 seconds.

Lorenzo De Luca (ITA) put forth two solid performances to edge Maher out of the second-place honors aboard Poden Farms’ 12-year-old KWPN gelding F One USA (Toulon x Tangelo Van De Zuuthoeve) by clearing the timers in 39.69 seconds. Rounding out the victory gallop was Maher and Oakingham Stud’s 12-year-old KWPN stallion (Baltic VDL x Concorde) just three-tenths of a second behind.

ARI Green Hunter 3’3” Ends in Wonderous Win

The Equine Tack and Nutritionals Ring 6 had 20 entries on Thursday in the Green Hunter 3’3” division sponsored by ARI.

Of the horse-and-rider teams, Wonderous and Christopher Payne, of Cincinnati, OH, rose to the top and secured another tricolor in the division after they won three classes, were third in the stake, and second under saddle.

Payne has competed Wonderous in the Green Hunter 3’3” division in WEF 3, WEF 2, and WEF Premiere Week with results of Champion, Champion, and Reserve Champion, respectively.

While the pair has already been successful in the division, Payne was cautiously optimistic today.

For more information and results, please visit www.PBIEC.com.