Hello Sanctos has joined his rider this month by taking the top spot in the showjumping world rankings. After Scott Brash reclaimed the world number one rider position (7 May), it has been announced that the 13-year-old gelding has topped the FEI WBFSH World Ranking List again.
Here are five things you might not know about the showjumping sensation
1. Bred in Belgium, he was originally called Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof. He was renamed Hello Sanctos when Lord and Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham, whose horses all bear the “Hello” prefix, bought the gelding for Scott to ride in 2011.
2. He is one of the most relaxed horses you’ll come across — he absolutely loves his beauty sleep. “He’ll lie down to sleep, then he comes out and does his job, then goes back to bed,” says co-owner Lady Harris.
3. He has earned more airmiles than the Beckhams. OK, maybe not quite, but he’s proper jetset, racking up wins in the Middle East and Europe and has competing in the Global Champions Tour in Miami, Florida last month.
“You wouldn’t believe that a horse could have been to all the countries he’s been to and seen all the things he must have seen, but he takes it all in his stride,” says his groom Hana Colman.
4. In 2014, he landed a record-breaking three Global Champions Tour grands prix — in Cannes, London and Estoril. “He’s so consistent — looking back at the whole of last year, you could name the fences he had down and count them on one hand,” says Scott.
5. He’ll do anything for Polos. His co-owners Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham are his biggest supplier of his favourite sweet.
“In the main ring for the presentation for the Global Champions Tour in Doha, we were lucky enough to be allowed in too and his ears immediately pricked when he saw us — he thought ‘Here are the ladies with the Polos’!” says Lady Harris.
