It’s Kent Farrington x Scott Brash for the Gold in the €530,000 Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final CSI 5*

By Jumper News USA on December 15, 2025

Geneva, Switzerland – December 12, 2025 – On Friday evening, the Palexpo arena was once again transformed into a huge stage for the €530,000 Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final CSI 5*. The ten protagonists – or twenty, if you count their equine partners – always give their all there. After inspecting the course and preparing, everyone had only one goal: to win the Rolex IJRC Top 10.

9.30pm: curtain up. Let’s get started. The ten best riders in the world competed one after the other in reverse order of the world rankings. Local hero Steve Guerdat (SUI), a three-time winner of the Top 10 Final, was first to compete. After taking a three-month break for health reasons, he was making his comeback at the highest level. His performance was met with loud applause from the audience, setting the bar high. Second to start was the Frenchman Julien Épaillard with his fabulous horse, Donatello d’Auge – the reigning winner of the World Cup Final. However, this great pair knocked down a pole in the triple combination.

Penalty points were also awarded to Daniel Coyle (IRL) with Incredible, Harrie Smolders (NED) with Monaco, Richard Vogel (GER) with Cloudio, and Ben Maher (GBR) with Dallas Vegas Batilly.

The second clear round of the first round was achieved by Belgian rider Gilles Thomas (BEL) on his exceptional Qalista DN. Reigning Olympic champion Christian Kukuk (GER) incurred a time penalty with Just Be Gentle.

**Kent Farrington** (USA) & **Toulayna**

Scott Brash (GBR) followed with the spirited Hello Chadora Lady, delivering the third clear round. He was immediately followed by world number one Kent Farrington (USA) with Toulayna. Then it was time for a well-deserved break for everyone.

In the second round, the pressure mounted as the riders competed in reverse order of the first round’s placings. Of the riders with penalty points, only Smolders and Vogel managed to maintain their scores. Épaillard, Coyle and Kukuk incurred further knockdowns, while Maher was eliminated after his horse, Dallas Vegas, refused.

The tension reached its peak when the four riders without penalties competed again. Guerdat had two knockdowns and Thomas had one.

This left the duel between Brash and Farrington. The Scot rode a perfect round in 45.63 seconds.

Farrington also remained faultless, but his time of 45.79 seconds was not quite enough. This meant that the ‘king’ and ‘heir to the throne’ of the current world rankings swapped places for one evening. Eleven years after his first victory, Scott Brash (GBR) once again inscribed his name on the winners’ list of this legendary showjumping competition.