Brash bounces back
Mr President pulls it out of the bag with a grand prix hat-trick
THE all-conquering duo of Scott Brash and Mr President notched up a tremendous hat-trick of grands prix on the Spring MET Tour with a lightning quick victory on Sunday.
After a 17-fault blip in the previous week’s grand prix, the world number 19 and Lady Harris and Lady Kirkham’s nine-year-old
‘His spookiness is also an advantage — that is what makes him so careful’ SCOTT BRASH ON MR PRESIDENT
son of Comme D’Api Jr bounced back to make it three wins out of four in this week’s concluding 1.45m €30,000 (£26,560) rankings class.
Eventual runner-up and last week’s victor Julien Epaillard (Instit De Jucaso) of France led through much of the 19-strong jump-off, but Scott powered round with typical precision to snatch victory by 0.08sec.
Qatari rider Bassem Hassan Mohammed took third on
Argelith Squid while Steven Franks and Brutus III finished further down the field in 12th with a polished double clear.
“I feel as if we have built him up in the past few weeks,” said Scott, who also headed a twophase with Mr President earlier in the week. “Although he won the first two weeks, he felt even better now.
“In my turn to the second-last fence of the jump-off, I felt as if I waited a bit too much, so when I crossed the finish line, I didn’t think I’d done enough. But that just shows how naturally fast my horse really is. He is easier to ride than he looks — he is spooky, but he has a snaffle mouth and is adjustable. His spookiness is also an advantage — that’s what makes him so careful.”
Scott was full of praise for this Spanish event.
“The team here tries really hard — everything is well organised,” said Scott. “You can have a lot of horses jumping, everything is on time and the rings are great. It is fantastic to jump in a grass ring and get the horses ready before the outdoor season starts.”
Other British winners this week included Jemma Kirk (Tchoupi Pironniere) and Benjamin Raistrick (Benevita).