World No.1 Scott Brash Finishes Second in Geneva World Cup
Sunday 15 December 2013
Another successful World Cup show drew to a close in Geneva for Scott Brash today with a 2nd place in the Rolex Grand Prix with a prize fund of almost €600,000.
Riding Hello Sanctos, the 11 year-old gelding owned by Lady Kirkham and Lord & Lady Harris, he produced one of the only four double clears of the competition which saw thirty nine competitors come forward.
It was Swiss rider, Steve Guerdat with Nino des Buissonnets that managed to pip Scott to the post by jumping clear in a time of 43.26 seconds, just 0.32 seconds faster than the one Scott and Sanctos broke the finish line in. Just behind Scott was Simon Delestre from France with Qlassic Bois Margot with their clear in a time of 44.16 with the fourth and final double clear of the competition coming from Gerco Schroder and London.
This week two years ago, Hello Sanctos was making his trip to Great Britain to join Scott as a potential London 2012 Olympic horse. It would have been hard for anyone to imagine quite how incredibly fearsome the combination would become within an incredibly short time. Within a few months they had posted their first major win in Wellington, Florida before coming back to the UK in the Spring and making their debut selection for a 5* Nations Cup Show in La Baule, May 2012.
Three months later they won a Team Gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, one year after that they won Team Gold at the 2013 European Championships in Herning before securing Individual Bronze two days later. Last month saw Scott and Hello Sanctos also secure the coveted Global Champions Tour title for 2013 in addition to the final Grand Prix of the series in Doha on his 28th birthday.
Scott will now set his sights on Olympia, the London International Horse Show, which commences this coming week in addition to retaining his World No.1 status. Scott secured the title of World No.1 on the Longines Ranking List at the start of this month, relegating fellow Team GB rider Ben Maher to 2nd place. Ben was also a member of the Team Gold medal winning teams at London 2012 and Herning 2013 in addition to winning an Individual Silver at the European Championships this summer.
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