September 10, 2025 
As the Jackie DeShannon song goes, “what the world needs now is love,” and we would add, maybe a little peace. What it didn’t need? Another reminder that two-time Olympic gold medalist Scott Brash is one heck of a jockey.
But we got it anyways.
This summer, during the second day of the FEI Jumping European Championships in La Coruña, Spain, Brash and Hello Folie rounded the corner to a scopey triple combination midway through the course when the mare unexpectedly rooted, causing Brash to lose his reins.
Did he attempt to pull out, as any sane individual would do?
Did he bail?
Did he, for the love of all things holy, even consider a circle?
Of course not! This is Brash!
Instead, he trusted his small-but-mighty chestnut mare who, though only 10 years old, has been Brash’s partner since her 8-year-old season. Naturally, the pair not only jumped through the triple without issue, they finished the round on a clear score—eventually winning not only the hearts of the crowd but team and individual silver.
And the world at large, aware as we already were of the only Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping winner in history’s considerably talents, once again thought: Damn, that guy can ride.
Here we are, just a handful of months later, and Brash is once again the name on every livestream commentator’s lips. This is due, in part, to his recent victory with Hello Jefferson in the CPKC International Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows—part of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping where, a decade after he won it, Brash is once again the live contender.
Much of it is thanks to Brash’s 14, 1.60m+ podium finishes aboard a powerhouse trio of horses: Hello Jefferson, Hello Chadora Lady, and Hello Folie—all owned by his longtime supporters Lady Pauline Kirkham and Lady Pauline Harris.
In terms of podium finishes, Brash just leads his countryman Ben Maher’s 13 podiums, Belgian wunderkind Gilles Thomas’s 12, and red-hot Nina Mallevaey of France’s 11 (Jumpr Stats). In terms of ranking points, that looks like a jump from no. 61 in the world in 2024 to no. 5 in the space of a year.
But that’s not the only category where the Scottish rider is a head above the rest.
Thanks to Brash’s win this month in the ‘Masters’—and its cool $3.6-million purse—he currently leads the standings for prize money in 2025 by a wide margin. His total this year to date is just under $2.3 million—more than $800,000 ahead of the next-highest earner, Kent Farrington (USA).
Brash falls behind Farrington, however, in 5* 1.60m Grand Prix wins this season.
The American rider won five Grands Prix aboard Greya in 2025, and one with Toulayna this winter in Thermal. Brash, meanwhile, has five Grands Prix divided among 16-year-old veteran Hello Jefferson (the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ and the Longines Grand Prix of Switzerland in St. Gallen), Hello Chadora Lady (the LGCT Grand Prix of Ramatuelle, St. Tropez and the LGCT Grand Prix of Shanghai), and Hello Folie (the CSI5* Grand Prix at Doha Al Shaqab in January).
Could the remainder of 2025 prove to be a kind of match race between Farrington—the current world no. 1—and Brash, a former world no. 1 (in 2014) and the current live contender for the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping?
As we enter the year’s final quarter and the always-anticipated 5* indoor season, we can’t wait to find out.
