Graham Fletcher: It was all going so well [H&H VIP]
H&H's showjumping columnist wonders how the showjumping world can re-capture the magic of 2012
Britain’s leading showjumper Scott Brash MBE is currently ranked number four in the world with a string of successes to his name including making history when becoming the first rider to win the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping in September 2015 with his top horse Hello Sanctos. Scott is also an Olympic gold medallist from the London 2012 Olympic Games. He was selected for the British Olympic showjumping team at the Tokyo Olympic Games riding Hello Jefferson, who is owned by his long-time supporters Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham.
Born in Peebles, Scotland, in 1985, Scott and his elder sister Lea spent their childhood riding ponies and competing every weekend. He received training from Paul Barker and joined the Brendon Stud in West Sussex before catching the attention of his current backers Lord and Lady Harris and Lord and Lady Kirkham.
Among the early milestones of his career was competing in the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games and he has since gone on to represent his country at championships, Nations Cups and has won many of the world’s most prestigious showjumping classes.
He is now based from a state-of-the art yard in West Sussex and among his top horses are his Tokyo Olympic showjumping partner Hello Jefferson, Hello Vincent, Hello Shelby and Hello M’Lady. Scott has recently launched a popular training platform.
In 2014, he was named the third most eligible bachelor in Scotland by The Scotsman.
Why do all Scott Brash’s horses have Hello in their name?
Scott Brash’s long-time owners Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham like to give all their horses the “Hello” prefix so every horse that they buy is renamed as such. Hello Sanctos, one of Scott’s all-time great partners, was originally named Sanctos Van Het Gravenhof. Sanctos and Ursula XII were widely considered to be two of Scott’s greatest horses and since retiring from the sport in 2019 have remained at Scott’s yard to enjoy their retirement.
Scott’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic horse Hello Jefferson (pictured below), known at home as “Jezz”, is a 12-year-old gelding who he started riding in 2018.
“He’s very clever and has such a busy brain that he always wants to be doing something,” says Scott. “But he’s trained on really well and we’ve grown so much as a partnership – we understand each other now and I think he’s a very special horse.”
He has also achieved recent success with Hello Vincent, with whom he won the Olympia grand prix in 2019.
Scott Brash is consistently ranked among the top 10 riders in the world and retained the title of world number one showjumper for 12 months in 2014.
Scott Brash’s showjumping achievements
Among his notable successes in a glittering career are:
Scott Brash’s official social media pages