A show for ‘Top Riders’
Very soon, on May 15th, time will be up for those wishing to confirm they will be riding in the 86th edition of Rome’s CSIO, while in the meantime a number of the world’s top riders have confirmed they will be coming.
Two of the very first to put their names down were the British rider Scott Brash and Holland’s Harrie Smolders.
Scott Brash, a member of the gold medal winning team at the 2012 London Olympic Games, finishing fifth in the individual competition, has been at the top of the FEI ranking for a long time since 2013 and his many wins include the 2015 Rolex Grand Slam. The Scotsman was the first and for the moment the only rider capable of winning three Grands Prix in a row on this circuit that has recently added shows in ‘s-Hertogenbosh, Geneva, Aachen and Calgary. His was an epic feat, one that made him forever part of the history of world show jumping. With the end of the era of his legendary Hello Sanctos, “the horse of a lifetime” as Brash described him, the rider now has a string of promising young jumpers in his stables. His top horse is still the experienced Ursula XII, a real fighter we will see competing in Rome.
Dutch rider Harrie Smolders, the new leader of the FEI Ranking, has a special feel for Italy and for Rome, finishing first in the 2016 LGCT Grand Prix and second in 2017 at the Stadio dei Marmi. Over the past two seasons Smolders rise to top level show jumping has been relentless, thanks also to two super horses such as the stallions Emerald and Don VHP Z. It was with the last horse that Smolders won the individual silver medal last August at the Goteborg European Championships.
