The British Equestrian Federation released a statement yesterday indicating that a critical member of its Gold Medal Winning team in London would not be able to make a repeat performance at Rio this summer.
“We greatly regret that show jumper Scott Brash is unable to be selected to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Scott’s top two Olympic hopefuls Hello Sanctos (owned by Lady Kirkham and Lord and Lady Harris) and Hello M’Lady (owned by Lady Kirkham and Lady Harris) picked up minor injuries at the start of the season and are still not back into full competition work and therefore will be unable to reach full fitness in time for Rio.
Scott, Lord and Lady Harris and Lord and Lady Kirkham have commented; “We are extremely disappointed that we are unable to help Team GB in their quest to win another Team Gold medal at this year’s Olympics. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of Team GB every success in Rio.”
Hello M’Lady has not competed in recognized competition since late February, where she was contesting the CSI5* in Doha, Qatar. Hello Santos last competed the first weekend in March in a CSI3* in Valencia, Spain. Scott has multiple other horses who are thriving at the top levels, but were apparently not qualified or were not in consideration to represent Britain at the summer games.
We anticipate that a full team announcement from Great Britain is impending, and will bring you any news as soon as we have it.