Text © World of Showjumping

Nicolas Delmotte (FRA) and the 13-year-old gelding Urvoso du Roch (Nervoso x Grand d'Escla) won Friday’s 1.60m RWE Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia at CHIO Aachen. 

For this qualifier for Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix, Frank Rothenberger had built a very tough course, which also was long – counting fourteen fences and seventeen efforts. It was the triple combination at 6abc – a triple bar followed by two strides to a plank and then one stride to an oxer, as well as the double of Liverpools, that caused most problems for the horses and riders. Again, and again, the white plank in the triple combination fell to the ground, and as usual several horses took a disliking to the Liverpools. "I thought it was tough today," Scott Brash said about the course afterwards. "More what you would expect on Sunday. But it's difficult, on Wednesday, he [Frank Rothenberger] had too many clears and today only three. I think the hardest job of all this week is the course designer's job."

Of the three riders that managed to answer all the questions asked by Rothenberger, the first was Jana Wargers (GER) who piloted Limbridge (Limbus x Cambridge) beautifully around as no. nine to go and for a long time she stayed on top of the score board with the only clear of the class. It was not until Scott Brash (GBR) and Hello Jefferson (Cooper vd Heffinck x Irco Mena) came in as fourth last to go that another clear was posted, and a jump-off was secured. Directly after Brash, Nicolas Delmotte and Urvoso du Roch joined in for the jump-off too – making it three in total. 

First to return for the jump-off was Wargers, who went for a steady clear with her 12-year-old stallion to cross the finish line in 47.03 seconds. That was quickly bettered by Brash who held a much quicker pace from the very beginning, to cut the time to beat down to 45.81 seconds. It was not to last for Brash though; as last to go, Delmotte took advantage of his gelding’s huge stride and shaved off 0.78 seconds on the leading time – taking the win home for France.

"I am very proud to win in Aachen," Delmotte said modestly. "I think it is a dream of every rider to win here. I am proud of myself, but mostly of my horse. After the Olympics in Tokyo, he got a rest and this is his first show back so a victory feels amazing."

Having won both the CSIO5* Grand Prix of La Baule and the CSI5* Grand Prix of Chantilly this summer, and now the RWE Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia in Aachen, it looks like Urvoso du Roch feels very comfortable in big grass rings and could be a real contender to take the victory in Sunday's Rolex Grand Prix. "I am very happy with my results this season, and I am also very confident in my horse but this will be his very first five-star Grand Prix of this calibre," Delmotte pointed out. 

Just like Delmotte and Urvoso du Roch, Brash and Hello Jefferson were doing their first show after the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where the gelding sustained a minor strain in the individual final and was withdrawn from team participation. "I am delighted actually, because it is his first show after the Olympics," Brash said. "Luckily, because we did not jump him in the end, there was no problem at all. He was MRI'ed when he came home and was good to go, so I jumped him in a couple of small classes at Hickstead two weeks ago, then came here and he feels amazing. He was a little bit fresh the first day; we had two down in the big class so we needed a good result today to qualify for the Grand Prix and I hope it is enough."

"I have a feeling there is no Grand Prix this horse can not win, and I know he is capable of winning on Sunday – but winning on Sunday is another matter," Brash smiled about what waits for the horses and riders in the Rolex Grand Prix, the third Major of the year in the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping.