Scott Brash has won the first leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix (GCT), held for the first time on Miami Beach.
Favourite
Scott was favourite to win, after taking the title in the previous night’s historic American Invitational with his new ride Hello Forever. Scott beat 53 other riders to the first prize of $41,910 (£28,000).
The world number one then scooped a further $198,000 (£133,000) winning the Miami Beach’s inaugural GCT Grand Prix, riding his stalwart partner Hello Sanctos.
There were 12 clears out of 50 starters, which included Beezie Madden (USA), Eric Lamaze (CAN) and Denis Lynch (IRE). Just four made it through to the third and final round against the clock.
Foot-perfect
Bassem Hassan Mohammed (QAT) was first to go in the jump-off, setting the standard with a clear in a time of 39.74sec.
Never one to hang about, Scott knew what he had to win the title and Hello Sanctos produced a foot-perfect round to break the beam in 38.57sec.
It’s a great start for Scott who is defending his GCT series title – which he won in both 2013 and 2014 with Sanctos.
‘Legend’
“One word: legend,” said Scott, describing his equine partner. “Sanctos is magnificent, he’s the horse of a lifetime. It’s a fantastic start to win the first leg, but there’s a long way to go. It’s a tough tour to win.”
Pieter Devos (CAN) was third with four faults, while reigning European Champion Roger-Yves Bost (FRA) had a refusal when a tight turn didn’t pay off putting him in fourth place.
The next leg of the GCT Championship is in Antwerp (22-25 April), where Scott will be hoping to achieve a hat-trick of consecutive wins.