The U.S. team made history this afternoon, Aug. 25, claiming victory in the Samsung Super League Nations Cup at the biggest horse show in the world, the Aachen CHIO in Germany. And they did it in truly authoritative fashion, finishing 8 faults ahead of the French and Dutch teams, who tied for second.

The home team of Germany had a dismal day, beating only Ireland and taking seventh place.

With this victory, the U.S. team takes over the lead in the Samsung Super League season standings.

McLain Ward, still nursing a broken collarbone suffered at the Hickstead CSIO (England) the last week of July, pulled off one of the day\’s two double-clear performances on his Olympic mount, Sapphire. Beezie Madden and Authentic—Ward\’s teammates in Athens for team silver—had a zero and 4 faults as the team\’s anchor team, clinching the victory.

Jeffery Welles, on Armani, put in four- and five- fault performances, while Laura Kraut on Miss Independent was the drop score in each round, with four- and 12-fault trips.

After the first round, the U.S. riders were tied for first with the Netherlands, on 4 faults. Great Britain, winners at Dublin (Ireland) three weeks ago, stood third with just 5 faults. Switzerland (6 faults) lurked in fourth, and Ireland and France were tied for fifth with 8 faults. Germany\’s team—not their strongest possible—had accumulated 9 faults.

Great Britain fell out of contention when Ellen Whitaker and AK Locarno Z picked up a disastrous 12 faults. With William Funnell\’s 13 faults as the drop score, that put the pressure on Michael Whitaker on Portofino. But their 5 faults left Great Britain tied for fourth.

France\’s Eugenie Angot and Cigale du Tailis could have put real pressure on Madden by jumping a clear round, but when she finished with a lowered rail, a foot in the water, and a time fault, she\’d left France with 21 faults.

Gerco Schroeder of the Netherlands had ridden Eurocommerce Monaco to the other double-clear, putting the Dutch final score even with the French.

With the U.S. team holding just 9 faults, Madden had an 11-fault cushion. But she and Authentic didn\’t need it. The athletic Dutch-bred caught just one rail\-the vertical leading into the final triple combination line\-o finish with 4 faults.

The television cameras showed teammate Kraut covering her eyes until the final jump, then celebrating ecstatically with Ward.

Germany\’s loss on home soil followed their crushing team defeat by the Netherlands in yesterday\’s dressage Nations Cup. The show jumping team didn\’t have all their A-listers, since Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum\’s Shutterfly\-he FEI Budweiser World Cup Final winner—is out of action with a minor injury.

And Ludger Beerbaum was riding a younger horse—L\’Espior. But European Champions Marco Kutscher and Montender had a bad day, with eight- and 12-fault rounds, the drop scores in both rounds. And Marcus Ehning and Gitania couldn\’t repeat a clean first go, collecting 8 faults in the second round.