Scott Brash close 2nd in FEI 5* Grand Prix of St Gallen
Friday 04 June 2021
It was a thrilling jump-off in the CSIO 5* 1.60m Longines Grand Prix of Switzerland today in St Gallen that saw thirteen combinations, from a starting field of fifty, come forward for the second round.
It had looked as if Scott Brash, from Peeblesshire and now based in Horsham, had left no stone unturned when he took an early lead with the 12 year-old bay gelding Hello Vincent owned by Lady Pauline Kirkham and Lady Pauline Harris. The course, designed by Gerard Lachat and Reto Rufin, left a lot of areas where the riders could make up ground in the jump-off by asking them to open up between fences as they crossed the arena before giving them the opportunity to turn as tight as they dare back to a vertical in two places.
In Scott’s indomitable style he posted a breath-taking round, in particular with a turn back to one of the verticals which had looked almost impossible yet achieved without breaking any momentum or rhythm. Their time of 45.41 seconds saw them take the lead and the only combination to break the 46 second marker. Everyone watching would have been forgiven for thinking Scott had it in the bag, however it wasn’t to be when Nayel Nassar (EGY) with Igor van de Wittemoer took up the gauntlet laid by Scott and throwing caution to the wind managed to pull a fraction of a second ahead of Scott's time to claim the win with their clear in a time of 45.32 seconds.
Philipp Weishaupt (GER) and Coby 8 took 3rd whilst Kevin Joechems (NED) and Turbo Z took 4th.
For full results https://bit.ly/3cmeaYf
The Nations Cup of St Gallen takes place on Sunday 6 June at 12:15 hrs local time. The Chef d’Equipe for the team will be Di Lampard, the World Class Performance Manager for Showjumping.
For further information on the show and full results o visit www.csio.ch
