Great Britain wins Nations Cup CSIO4

WELLINGTON — Great Britain ended its struggles in inter- national competition by winning the $150,000 Nations Cup CSIO4 during the “Saturday Night Lights” featured event at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

In front of a wild, packed house, the foursome of Ben Maher on Tic Tac, Emily Mason on Explosion W, Emily Moffitt on Hilfiger Van De Olmenhoeve and Amanda Derbyshire on Luibanta BH led from start to finish for a team score of zero. Maher and Mason, making her Nations Cup debut, had double clear rounds to finish ahead of Ireland and Mexico in the nine-country field.

“We’ve been losing for too long,” said Maher, who was riding his 15-year-old 2016 Olympic mount, Tic Tac, a Belgian Sport Horse owned by Jane Forbes of Wellington.

“We had a long talk before the weekend that we needed Great Britain to get off to a good start,” Maher said. “Now we can take this result back to Europe with us for the super league division and look forward to Tryon (World Equestrian Games) for Olympic qualification.”

Ireland, led by double clear rounds by Shane Sweetnam and Paul O’Shea, finished second with five faults and Mexico was third with 10 faults. The U.S. team of Lillie Keenan, Catherine Tyree, Adrienne Sternlicht and Beezie Madden failed to make it past the first round and finished seventh.

On Sunday, Madden and Breitling LS won the $205,000 Lugano Diamonds Grand Prix CSIO4. The pair had double clear rounds in 75.59 and 40.49 seconds and earned $67,650.

Ireland’s Richie Moloney and Carrabis Z were second in 43.16 and pocketed $41,000.

In early week events:

■ Alex Gr a nato and 10-year-old Mecklenberg gelding Carlchen W won the $35,000 Equinimity WEF Challenge Cup Round 8. The pair topped a field of 66 riders in 65.03 and won $11,550.

■ Lacy Gilbertson and Baloppi won the FEI $35,000 Hermes Under-25 Grand Prix semifinal with double clear rounds and jump-off of 40.211 to win $11,550.

■ Brazil’s Rodrigo Lambre and Chapilot won the $25,000 ProElite Jumper Classic. The pair had the only double clear round and fastest jump-off round of 39.424 to pocket $7,500.