At the Paris Olympics next month, the reigning gold medallist Ben Maher will represent Great Britain with a relatively new ride for the top level, Point Break.
The 10-year-old Action-Breaker x Balou Du Rouet stallion was bred in Sweden by Nya Appelvikens Ridskola and produced in his early days by Anders Lagergreen.
Ben took the reins on the supremely exciting youngster in 2021 after his supporters Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright – also the owners of his Tokyo Olympic gold medal-winning partner Explosion W – stepped in to buy him.
Hertfordshire-based Ben has produced “Bodhi” – named after Patrick Swayze’s character in the 1991 film Point Break – to the top level and for the past four years he’s been the superstar-in-waiting that everyone’s been talking about.
With an enviable string of top horses in his stable at the moment, it speaks volumes that Ben has chosen this rising star 10-year-old as his partner when the Olympic showjumping kicks off in Versailles on 1 August.
“I felt the pressure going into Tokyo because Explosion was at the time probably the highest rated horse so I really felt I didn’t want to let him down,” Ben explains. “It was my job to give Explosion the best shot and fortunately everything went perfectly. But it doesn’t always work out like that in our sport.
“It’s completely different in Paris – I have a different horse, a younger horse, who is very talented and he has all of the ability, but I will have to hold his hand a bit more than Explosion because he’s just lacking a bit of experience. But that doesn’t mean I have less expectations.
“That bond with your horse is very important. We’ve had Point Break since he was six years old and he’s now 10, so four years. We’ve spent a lot of time, done a lot of travel, a lot of fitness work, competition ring time – it takes a lot to get these horses to this kind of level.”
The Olympic Games in Paris will be Point Break’s championship debut, but the world number two Ben Maher, who made his Olympic debut in 2008 and has competed at every Games since, arrives in Paris as the defending Olympic champion and a winner of five further championship medals.
Ben and Point Break, who is looked after by groom Derren Lake, made their team debut in the Longines League of Nations in Ocala this year and jumped double clear in Rotterdam last month where the British team finished third, setting the pair up for Olympic selection for Team GB in Paris.
“It’s nice to get selection done,” said Ben. “I’m looking forward to focusing on my horse and preparing him to be peaking at the right time.
“When you go to your first Olympics you don’t know what to expect, you’re young and naive and sometimes that can work in your favour – you can just go for it without any expectations. Then you go through the phase of knowing what’s coming and what pressures that brings with it.
“But I feel like I’ve come full circle now, I’ve been through the ups and downs, and we had a very fortunate time there in Tokyo. So I have all the experience now and I can use that to my advantage.”
You may also like to read…
Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Subscribe today and enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus unlimited website access and digital versions of the magazine dating back to September 2012.