‘She has everything you need to win a championship’: Scott Brash delivers standout opening round in Aachen
Scott Brash and Hello Mango are the best of the Brits in the opening day in Aachen
Scott Brash got his showjumping World Championships campaign off to an incredible start in the team and individual qualifier, finishing third on the opening day.
The first competition is a speed round; knocked poles add four seconds to the clock. Faults are not given for refusals, but time mounts up as combinations re-present after a stop.
Scott was the third Brit to tackle Frank Rothenberger’s 13-fence track and he soared straight to the top of the leaderboard with Hello Mango during the third session of the day.
The Scotsman’s clear round looked effortless with the talented 11-year-old grey mare, who is making her championship debut at the Aachen World Championships. Mango was looking for the fences the whole way round and they stopped the clock on 72.19sec, nine hundredths of a second faster than Germany’s Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Singclair, who had taken an early lead.
Scott said he was “delighted” following his round.
“Mango’s been fantastic, she jumped phenomenal and answered every question. I’m super happy to get a round under our belt,” he said.
It’s a tricky balance of getting a quick round on the first day, but not taking too much risk – a task Scott nailed perfectly.
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“You’ve still got to ride the plan that you think is suitable for your horse. You can’t do something that your horse is not capable of, you’ve got to just stay focused on that round, not get too caught up in what everyone else is doing,” he said.
“But we've been working Mango towards this championship for a long time, and I’ve always thought she’s a championship horse, so it was always going to be trying to put in a quick round on day one. It’s nice to get it done and be up amongst the leaders.”
Scott has rated Mango since he started riding her four years ago.
“When I sat on her as a seven-year-old I thought she had the ingredients to be a championship horse. We’ve taken our time and produced her slowly,” he said.
“I think she has all the attributes to win anything. Maybe a year or two ago she wouldn’t have been able to do this quick round and still stay calm, she's a sharp mare, but now she has the experience.
“She’s just developed into a really cool horse. I can go quick and stay in control and do what I need to do to give her the best possible chance of jumping clear. So that’s a great feeling. She’s super smart; she has everything that I think you need to win a championship.”
Scott is under no illusion that there is still plenty to do over the week.
“Obviously it’s just good to get day one done and feel that she’s in great shape and jumping well. There’s a lot of jumping to go,” he said.
“There’ll be a lot of difficult questions to be answered along the week, but it’s nice to be up amongst the first few, and we’ve got a chance after day one. That’s all you can ask for. I’ll just keep trying to make the right plan for her, and I’m sure she’ll keep jumping at her best.”
As the fourth final session concluded this afternoon Scott and Mango finished the day in third place. Harrie Smolders and Mr Tac sat second on 71.96sec, and the flying Frenchman Julien Epaillard and Fringan De Vesquerie led on 70.60sec.
Each rider’s score from today is converted via a coefficient into points. Two rounds of team jumping then follow, with the top 10 teams from Thursday’s (19 August) competition progressing to Friday’s (21 August) medal-deciding final. The top 60 individual riders also compete.
Sunday’s (23 August) individual final consists of two rounds, the first for the 25 best placed horses and riders after the first three legs of competition, with the top 12 then qualifying for the medal-deciding round two.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.