The Wellington Final Five. Where Are They Now?

Whether you were there, or watching on TV, that night in March is one that will live long in the memory. Greya started as favorite, but was going to have to overcome an in-form Richard Vogel who brought forward Gangster Mondesir - already a Wellington 1.60 winner from Week 5 (beating Greya). Ben Maher had his jump-off superstar Enjeu De Grisien and Checker 47 returned with Christian Kukuk as defending Open champion and double winner of this class. 

It was a tense and dramatic first round which saw only five horses clear the 1.60m course and line up for the jump-off.  It was the strongest field on US soil (736) since our records began in 2010 and still produced just a 12.5% first-round clear rate. It made it one of the most select jump-offs of the season.

All statistics below cover CSI5* and Major Championship 1.60m starts since that night. 

The five horses who made that jump-off represented four nations and a combined Elo range of 697 to 777 going in. Three collected four faults in the decider. Two went double clear. Across a combined 36 rounds at CSI5* and Major Championship 1.60m level since that night, the group has produced 13 clears, two wins, and four podiums. The winner has also gone on to become a World Cup winner and, after that weekend, the highest-rated US horse on record (788), moving past HH Azur's peak rating of 784 (2018) and Cortes 'C' rating of 783 back in 2015.  

Greya has not slowed down. Three competitions at CSI5* and Major Championship 1.60m since the Final, 3 clears from 6 rounds, a 50% clear rate against an average round clear rate of 30% on those same courses. One podium, a win. Her current Elo of 786 is the highest of the five jump-off horses.

Farrington took her straight to the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Fort Worth (12 April), where she jumped multiple clears before finishing the multi-day event 1st from 97 starters. At Aachen (24 May, Rolex Grand Prix CSI5* 1.60m), they jumped 0/4 on a field of strength 756, finishing 8th from 40.

We won't see them at the World Championships with Kent citing longer term goals and a focus on being ready for LA28. 

Enjeu de Grisien has the most competitions of the five horses since the Final: three starts, 4 rounds, 1 clear, a 25.0% clear rate against an average round clear rate of 35.2%. Maher led the Wellington jump-off and stopped the clock first in 43.72, a time Farrington beat by 0.73 of a second. That double clear on Final night was the largest single-result Elo gain of the five horses. Current Elo 760.

Three post-Final starts: Mexico City GCL team competition (17 April) and the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix (19 April), both at CSI5* 1.60m, then Aachen (24 May, Rolex Grand Prix CSI5* 1.60m) where four faults in round one were followed by a clear second round, finishing 4th from 40 on a field of strength 756.

Gangster Montdesir was the fastest horse in the Wellington jump-off at 42.87, only for a rail at the final fence to hand the win to Farrington. Five competitions since the Final, 9 rounds, 4 clears, a 44% clear rate against an average round clear rate of 26%. Two podiums. The higher round count reflects the multi-round formats at Fort Worth and Rome.

Five post-Final starts with Vogel: the World Cup Final in Fort Worth (12 April), where he finished 9th from 97 starters across the multi-day event; Windsor (17 May, Rolex Grand Prix CSI5* 1.60m), 16th from 34 on a field of strength 701; Rome's CSIO5* Nations Cup (29 May), where a clear second round earned a place in the jump-off and Germany finished 2nd as a team from 40 on a field of strength 710; and the AON Grand Prix at Spruce Meadowns, presented by Rolex (28 June, CSI5* 1.60m), where a double clear delivered their first win since the Final, from a field of strength 644 and 31 starters. they had two down in the ATCO Queen Elizabeth II Cup a week later. 

Eddy Blue entered the Final as the second-highest-rated of the five horses at Elo 775. Since then he has  been to Miami Beach (3 April, GCL Individual CSI5* 1.60m), 14th from 24 on a field of strength 624; Aachen (24 May, Rolex Grand Prix CSI5* 1.60m), 14th from 40 on a field of strength 756; and the La Baule CSIO5* Nations Cup (12 June), where a clear second round contributed to a 3rd-place team finish from 40 on a field of strength 748. they were clear in the Agria Nations Cup at Falsterbo recently and a rail down in the Rolex Grand Prix last time out at the same venue. 

Chaccolino entered the Final as the lowest-rated of the five horses at Elo 697 (which is still enough to sit within approx the top 150 horses in the world). That night brought 18 points, carrying him to 715. A first-round clear in a 12.5% clear rate class against a 736-strength field is exactly the result the system rewards heavily. Coyle and Chaccolino are the only combination to reach the jump-off in both the 2025 and 2026 Finals. 

Since the final they have been to Mexico City GCL Individual (17 April) and the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix (19 April), both at CSI5* 1.60m; then Rotterdam, where a clear first round contributed to a team result in the Longines League of Nations (19 June) before the Grand Prix of Rotterdam (21 June). They were clear in the Rolex Grand Prix at Falsterbo to secure a top 10 finish.