Scott Brash and Hello Sanctos won the first leg of the Longines FEI World Cup showjumping series in Oslo at the weekend from final draw.
Marcus Ehning took an early lead in the jump off, but was beaten by Olympic individual champion Steve Guerdat, before Scott destroyed them both with an outstanding piece of riding to win the class in 34.28sec.
Scott drove off in a Range Rover Evoque — with a new Longines watch being fitted for him — after winning in the narrow confines (75x35m) of the Telenor arena.
But the result could have been different as just minutes before Scott came forward to jump off, Sanctos’ drop noseband broke. Shane Breen and Marlon Modolo Zanotelli rushed to his aid and local rider Geir Gulliksen was able to provide a replacement. But the ice-cool Peebles rider seemed totally unaffected by the whole ordeal.
“We had that little hiccup in the collecting ring, so I saw Marcus’ round but I missed everyone else’s,” said Scott. “Sanctos has felt great for a long time — he’s so consistent — and that certainly gives you a boost.”
Scott also won the Rikstoto grand prix the previous day with the 11-year-old son of Quasimodo VD Molendreef/Nabab De Reve. They finished just 0.02sec quicker than Sweden’s Angelica Augustsson and the back-in-form Mic Mac Du Tillard.
“It was a very fast competition,” said Scott. “He really is the horse of a lifetime.”
Shane Breen and the 10-year-old Balloon were unlucky not to join the jump-off after collecting a time-fault. But the Hickstead-based Irishman enjoyed a good show with Widny, who came to him a couple of months ago from Max Routledge.
They were second in the high-octane knockout competition, beaten only by Brazilian Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (Ode Des Roches). In the third and final round of the puissance, when the wall stood at 2.03m, they were just nudged out by Jur Vrieling on a borrowed ride Hestehusets Bambino.
Full report from Oslo in Horse & Hound magazine, on sale Thursday 24 October
