Britain's Scott Brash and Hello Chadora Lady Win the Coveted Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final!

It was a battle between the world's number one and two and came down to the turn to the final jump in round two. Britain's Scott Brash and the 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Hello Chadora Lady executed a tighter turn and stopped the timers 0.16 seconds sooner than world number one Kent Farrington, who stood on the podium in second place after his ride aboard the 11-year-old Holsteiner mare Toulayna.

"I'm absolutely delighted and delighted for the mare," said Brash after his win in the CSI5* show jumping competition with two 1.60m rounds.

The world's 10 best show jumpers and perhaps 10 best horses assembled in front of an indoor crowd of 43,000 strong.

The 2025 FEI Jumping European champion, Germany's Richard Vogel, rode Cloudio, an 11-year-old Holsteiner stallion, to a third-place finish. This was Vogel's second time in the Top 10 competition.

Farrington disappointed with his second-round ride

"That was stupid riding," said Farrington, emotionally raw and self-deprecating just after his ride. "The horse jumped to win tonight, and the rider rode to lose, so that was not good." Farrington and the 11-year-old Holsteiner mare Toulayna had a flawless first round and jumped clear in the second. Farrington wished he'd ridden bolder in the second round, saying he was mindful that the penultimate fence in the second round had come down for other riders.

Results:

1 Scott Brash (Great Britain) - HELLO CHADORA LADY - 0+0=0/45.63

2 Kent Farrington (USA) - TOULAYNA - 0+0=0/45.79

3 Richard Vogel (Germany) - CLOUDIO - 4+0=4/44.24

4 Gilles Thomas (Belgium) - QALISTA DN - 0+4=4/44.49

5 Harrie Smolders (Netherlands) - MONACO - 4+0=4/48.53

6 Christian Kukuk (Germany) - JUST BE GENTLE - 1+4=5/52.14

7 Daniel Coyle (Ireland) - INCREDIBLE - 4+4=8/43.00

8 Julien Epillaird (France) - DONATELLO D'AUGE - 4+4=8/43.70

9 Steve Guerdat (Great Britain) - Venard de Cerisy - 0+8=8/45.61

Four of the Rolex IJRC Top 10 riders this year have won previously

Farrington won this competition twice - in 2015 with Voyeur and in 2019 with Austria 2 - the only U.S. rider with such a Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final résumé. Brash won in 2014, with Hello Sanctos. Swiss rider Steve Guerdat was looking for his fourth win, but finished ninth with Venard de Cerisy, with eight faults in the second round. He won with the 16-year-old Selle Francais gelding in 2023, and with other mounts in 2010 and 2018. British rider Ben Maher won this competition in 2021 with Explosion W.

Tonight, though, Maher gently parted ways from Dallas Vegas Batilly in the second round as the mare refused fence six after a right rollback and angled approach. Maher slipped off and was fine. Maher said the mare was more sensitive in the mouth than usual, and they weren't quite on the same page.

The newcomers

This was the first Rolex IJRC Top Ten Final for two of the 10 riders. One was Ireland's Daniel Coyle who, with Incredible, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, knocked down the third-to-last fence in the first round and the same fence in the second round. Coyle joked afterwards that he'd like to see that fence disappear by Sunday, for the Rolex Grand Prix.

Belgium's Gilles Thomas was also new to the competition. He and the 9-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Qalista DN finished fourth.

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