Simon McCarthy has a 1.50m winning machine in Gotcha. Hopping between World Equestrian Center Ocala and Wellington International, they’ve jumped to five podium finishes since January, including their first CSI3* Grand Prix win earlier this month. This pair has jumped clear in six of their seven starts at the height and have an 86% clear […]
Simon McCarthy has a 1.50m winning machine in Gotcha. Hopping between World Equestrian Center Ocala and Wellington International, they’ve jumped to five podium finishes since January, including their first CSI3* Grand Prix win earlier this month. This pair has jumped clear in six of their seven starts at the height and have an 86% clear and top-10 finish average. Gotcha gets it done.
Gotcha
No rider has jumped to more podium finishes at the Winter Equestrian Festival this season than Nayel Nassar. The Egyptian Olympian has podiumed 13 times (and counting…) with six horses, highlighted by a CSI3* Grand Prix on Week 1 on Esi Ali and a WEF Challenge Cup win on Week 10 with Ivory Tcs. Nassar has been most prolific at the 1.45m height, collecting top-three finishes with Dorado de Riverland, Donvier, Linguini de la Pomme and Ivory Tcs. But the winningest horse in his string is the last. In 11 starts at heights 1.45m to 1.55m, Ivory and Nassar have climbed four podiums, twice as the winner.
Nayel Nassar
Meanwhile in Ocala…Richard Spooner had three horses in rotation at the World Equestrian Center and claimed eight podium finishes. (Only two other riders jumped to as many: Kent Farrington and Daniel Coyle.) Spooner’s most podium prolific mount was Lyjanair. The 11-year-old Holsteiner mare joined his string in October last year and while she has yet to win a class, she’s finished on the podium in 50% of their 14 FEI starts this season with the American. He’s leaving Ocala richer for it too with €145,305 in earnings to last season’s sub €12k pay day.
Luis Fernando Larrazabal
With 60 career podium finishes up to 1.50m—nearly half of them wins—Theo 160 is the definition of consistent contender for Conor Swail. In 2025, the 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding jumped to twice as many podium finishes as he did in 2024, earning €66,275 on California’s Desert Circuit. It’s two top-three finishes and nearly €100k shy of his best season in 2023 when he climbed eight podiums and won €160,442. The only show jumper more consistent is Swail himself. For the third year in a row, the Irish rider accrued the most podium finishes of any rider in the Desert.
Lyjanair
Nassar’s closest competitor on WEF podium finishes is Venezuela’s Luis Fernando Larrazabal. He’s claimed eight top-three finishes on five horses. But his best earner, by far, is Bella de Muze. The 15-year-old Moroccan-bred mare accounts for half his podiums, including three wins at the 1.45m height on 4* and 5* weeks.
Theo 160
They haven’t headlined 5* press releases over the past three months, nor filled your social media feed with their epic Grand Prix wins. But these five show jumpers have made consistency count, climbing international podiums week in and week out the winter circuits across USA, according to Jumpr stats.
