When has this ever happened: In the Rolex Grand Prix in Spruce Meadows over two rounds and 1.60m, no rider without mistakes managed to finish the course in the end. The victory had to be decided in the clash between the two riders with four errors, Scott Brash with Hello Jefferson (v. Cooper van de Heffinck) and Homehero Kyle King and his ten-year-old mare Kayenne Z (v. Kannan).
The audience was feverishly cheering for their Kyle King. He had started off as a little boy on a pony at Spruce Meadows, and had been involved in all the tournaments since then, but until the final round of the Rolex Grand Prix he had never made it.
The situation for Scott Brash was quite different: exactly ten years ago, in Spruce Meadows, he was the only rider to win the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping, thus achieving three consecutive major victories. Brash had to compete first with Hello Jefferson, and the number five in the world rankings did so. After 46.97 seconds without errors, the 39-year-old arrived at the finish line and the prize money of 1.65 million dollars was within reach.
Kyle King was even faster in the sprint, but in the end the 144th ranked player in the world was brought down by a Canadian hurdle. He didn’t care much about the result; probably no one has ever been so happy about second place. For Scott Brash, as the winner and new live contender, the journey to a new Rolex Grand Slam victory begins.
Swiss Steve Guerdat secured third place on the podium with his veteran Venard de Cerisy (v. Open Up Semilly) and five penalty points over two rounds ahead of Max Kühner and Elektric Blue P (v. Eldorado vd Zeshoek) with eight penalty points. Fifth place went to Nicola Philippaerts with Katanga vh Dingeshof (v. Cardento).
Daniel Deusser was the best German with his Tobago Z-sire Otello de Guldenboom in sixth place. In the first round, Deusser had created a flawless ride on the lawn. In the even more difficult second round, Double D, like so many others, came to a stop on the finish line with two horses and a bicycle as obstacles. Eight penalty points were recorded in the end. Because in the second round, not only technique but also fitness were once again tested. Jörne Sprehe and Sprehe Hot Easy (v. Andiamo Z) were also error-free in the first round. They also received two penalties and a time penalty on the finish line in the second round. However, they still managed to finish eighth.
The fastest rider without any errors in round one was Sophie Hinners with Iron Dames My Prins (v. Zilverstar T). She was therefore allowed to attack as the last of the 12 starters in the second round. But even she did not reach the finish line alive and was placed tenth with 12 penalty points.
The second round was narrowly missed by the Olympic champions Christian Kukuk and Checker (v. Comme il Faut) due to a time error. A similar misfortune befell the European champions Richard Vogel and United Touch S (v. Untouched). A mistake at the penultimate jump prevented them from advancing to round two.
For a split second, CHIO Aachen winner Martin Fuchs had secured victory with his Leone JEI. After a flawless first round, the pair stumbled at the first jump in round two and fell. Fortunately, both were able to leave the arena unharmed at the end of the shock.
The whole result: HERE