Great Britain has claimed the bronze medal at the Agria FEI World Showjumping Championships in Herning, Denmark, on Friday 12 August. But the team’s anchorman Scott Brash, who had also been in the individual silver medal position after day two, picked up an uncharacteristic eight faults under the lights with the spring-heeled Hello Jefferson, having jumped clear all week.
Scott was understandably “disappointed” with what became the team’s drop score for today, and attributed some tensions in the warm-up arena for his below-par performance.
“The warm-up was bad – I was pretty disappointed in there,” Scott explained. “A lot of guys were getting excited at the practice jump next to Hello Jefferson and my horse is sharp, so he doesn’t need that sort of thing going on. So I wasn’t really happy with the warm-up. I think the tension came through to the ring and we didn’t do the best round. I think we’ve done not bad considering, but yeah, a bit disappointed.”
World Showjumping Championships: ‘Hello Jefferson has been amazing’
Scott continued: “Jefferson has been amazing. But just under the lights with a bit of atmosphere, the warm-up, then it didn’t go to plan for us today.”
Scott Brash’s faults with the 13-year-old gelding, owned by Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham, came at the second element of the double of oxers midway round the course, then the pair hit the oxer coming out of the treble combination, where many horses and riders ran into difficulties.
Scott’s team-mates Ben Maher (Faltic HB) and Joe Stockdale (Equine America Cacharel), both produced four-fault rounds while Harry Charles (Romeo 88) jumped clear to help Great Britain climb the leaderboard in a thrilling team medal decider, won by Sweden.
“The others were brilliant – Joe, Harry and Ben really dug deep and it was great for the two young lads pulling out great scores there today,” said Scott. “So I’m delighted for the team.”
Scott’s individual score after day three is 8.23, which puts him in 13th in the individual standings of the World Showjumping Championships, with the medals being decided on Sunday.
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