British showjumper Scott Brash debuted his new ride Hello Valentino on home soil at the London International Horse Show, and this exciting eight-year-old stallion shows a lot of promise.
Valentino, who gained the Hello prefix when he came under the ownership of Scott’s long-term backers Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham, was bred in Sweden by Tina Petersson-Lind and he is by the stallion Diamantino.
“He was produced by Wilma Hellstrom and Ciaran Dreeling, who bought him in Sweden when he was about five, and we bought him off the family about six weeks ago,” Scott told H&H.
“Angelica Augustsson Zanotelli is very close friends with Wilma and said to me a couple of times, ‘Oh you know he’s a really good horse and I think he’s very intelligent, take a look at him’. She got me to pay attention to him anyway. Then I went and tried him and they were very good first impressions.”
Scott Brash: ‘He’s scopey, he’s careful, he’s clever’
Scott and Hello Valentino’s first show together was a CSI2* in Belgium at the start of December and the Olympic gold medallist stepped him up to five-star tracks in London, where they finished with a lovely clear in Monday’s speed class.
“We still need some time together just to get to know one another, which is normal, so we just need to go to a few more shows,” said Scott, who won Sunday’s Longines FEI World Cup qualifier with his championship horse Hello Jefferson. “It’s still early days, but I do think he’s a really exciting horse for the future. He’s scopey, he’s careful, he’s clever – so there’s a lot of ingredients there for a top horse.
“We’ve been a bit short of horses, so he’s a really good addition.”
Scott also has a lovely new seven-year-old mare from Poden Farms, Keswichtime HV (Untouchable 27 x Numero Uno), who has been racking up a string of classy clears in young horse classes.
“We’re just trying to build and always producing the next ones – so we’ll keep trying!” said Scott.
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