CALGARY,Canada--Kyle King on Kayanne Z finished second to Scott Brash on Hello Jefferson in the 500 million CAD Spruce Meadows Master Grand Prix on Sunday, Sept. 7
Kyle King on Kayenne ZThe third Major of the year in the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, with the unprecedented prize money of 5 million CAD was a thriller.
From the first round of 36. the top 12 competed in a second round, in which Brash and King tied for the win with four faults each.
Steve Guerdat on Venard de Ceris was third with five faults..
The seriousness of the challenge was clear from the start.
“The reality is, I design courses with focus on not being bad to the horses but challenging the riders – and the good riders can solve the problems," said course designer Leopoldo Palacious of Venezuela.
“When we had the ditches down in the second round, I thought that was it, over. It just shows what a test it was,” Brash said.
Going first in the jump-off, Brash was clean over the seven-fence jump-off in 46.97 seconds, and King did beat Brash’s time,but at the cost of the Canada plank falling, leaving the title with Brash and Hello Jefferson.
“I HAVE been coming to Calgary my whole life, and it has always been one of my biggest dreams, probably bigger than anything, to win this Grand Prix,” Kyle said. “Spruce Meadows has been my way of riding against this caliber in my life. I never showed in Europe, but Europe comes to Calgary once a year. I just feel a special connection to Spruce Meadows, and to me, it was a win, and I’ll take it.”
“I kind of had nothing to lose at that point,” King said about his strategy for the jump-off. “I saw that he was quick enough and his horse looks quick in general. I got a really good roll-back to the wall, but my mare is pretty green and I don’t have much control of her, so I just had to dial it up and it showed just right. I thought the plank showed up probably better than anything else, honestly. When I heard them fall, I did slow down. I was surprised that I still beat his time. I am really proud with the way it all worked out; to be here with these guys is pretty amazing.”
"I'm a permanent resident of Canada,' said King. "I'm getting my Canadian citizenship and hopefully will be riding for Canada."
"Kyle is a great guy and a good rider," said U.S. chef d'equipe Robert Ridland. "Now he's finally gotten a good horse. Kayenne is a proven quality. Second at Spruce Meadows wasn't a fluke. He was second in the Queen Elizabeth Cup two weeks ago."
A number of riders, thinking that they would have no chance of making a U.S. team, have chosen to activate a second citizenship and ride for another, weaker country.
"It''s always been a dilemma for riders who have dual citizenship," said Ridland. "Do you get on a weaker team in the hopes of riding in the Olympics, or if your goal is to win a medal take a shot at making the U.S. team."
"Now that King finally has a top horse, I hope to convince him to apply for our team." said Ridland. "100 percent that I'd want him on our team. He didn't even know our system of how to apply for a spot on a team."
"It's not easy to apply to ride on a new country's team," said Ridland. "You have to apply to the FEI,and that takes time. Then you have to stay out of competition for at least a year."
Brash won the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping at this very venue in 2015.
“Shocked, surprised and delighted to be sitting here,” he said at the press conference. “I thought my day was over, but thankfully we got another chance. I’m just absolutely delighted for my horse, I think more than anything, he deserves a title. He has been such a good horse for so many years, we have had ups and downs, but he has been a fantastic horse so I think it is great he got the title now.”
“I know how competitive the field is, but I was just happy with where my horse was at, but you never know what this man is going to build,” Brash said. “I think when we all come to Calgary, we know what we are in for, it is the biggest and richest Grand Prix in the world, so we know it is going to be an almighty test. I think it takes an experienced horse to be able to jump around it. I think Leopoldo has done a good job again. When I first walked it, I thought ‘oh’ – but he knows what he is doing.”
“It is the 8th time for my owners Lord and Lady Harris to be winning this Grand Prix,” Brash said about his great supporters. “I have been so lucky with my owners to have fantastic horses like Sanctos, Ursula and now Jefferson, and to be able to win this Grand Prix. It is hard enough to have a horse capable of jumping this class, let alone winning it. I have been very lucky in my life,”
Brash has won this very Grand Prix with Hello Sanctos, Hello Ursula XII and now with Hello Jefferson.
With five faults in round two, Steve Guerdat and Venard de Cerisy finished third.
“I am very happy, I am not disappointed,” the current world number eight said. “I think I could have ridden my line a little bit better in the second round. I am not so disappointed about the time fault, because I think to give him the chance to jump the fences, I knew I would be close to the time. It was something I was ready to accept, because I knew there would not be many clear rounds. I am very happy and it was a fantastic class again, great sport and I couldn’t ask for much more.”
The 11 clean in the challenging first round were Nicola Philippaerts of Belgium on Katanga v/h Dingeshof, Jörne Sprehe of Germany on Sprehe Hot Easy, Roy Van Beek of Belgium and Cavoiro-H OLD, Yuri Mansur of Brazil and QH Alfons Santo Antonio, the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping Live Contender Martin Fuchs of Switzerland on Leone Jei, Sophie Hinners of Germany and Iron Dames My Prins, Kyle King and Kayenne Z, Scott Brash of Great Britain on Hello Jefferson, Steve Guerdat of Switzerland and Venard de Cerisy and Max Kühner Tof Austria on Elektric Blue P.
With the 12 best moving forward to round two, Willem Greve of Netherland and Grandorado TN. N.O.P. made it in with a single time penalty.
Aaron Vale on Carissimo also had just one time fault, but being slightly slower than Greve finished just out of it in 13th.
