It seems there is no stopping our British riders abroad at present - this week has seen Nick Skelton claim leading rider of the year in Kentucky, John Whitaker won in Germany, and Scott Brash gained a major victory in Toronto.

Nick on unstoppable form

Nick Skelton not only took leading international rider of the week – giving Nick the lease of an Audi car for a year – but produced a faultless round for second place in the Grand Prix in Kentucky.

The Alltech National Horse Show concluded with the $250,000 Grand Prix which saw Course Designer Richard Jeffery build a large technical track. Challenging both horse and rider, only five combinations managed to jump clear and make it into through to the jump-off.

American Richard Spooner and his ride Cristallo set the pace with tidy inside turns and a clear effort coming home in 37.97 seconds.

Nick was the last to challenge with Beverley Widdowson’s ten-year-old grey gelding Carlo. The speedy duo produced the only other fault-free round. They also managed to catch all the inside turns, and although they had a fast gallop through the end of the course, a slow start proved costly when they tripped the timers at 38.33 to finish in second place.

With this current success, the blistering form he showed in Washington earlier in the month, and his recent European bronze medal performances, Nick is surely making the Olympic selectors' job for 2012 that little bit easier.

Results

1^st Richard Spooner riding Cristallo – 0/0 in 37.97 seconds

2^nd Nick Skelton riding Carlo – 0/0 in 38.33 seconds

3^rd Jessica Springsteen riding Cincinatti Le Silla – 0/4 in 40.66 seconds

John Whitaker wins Munchen Grand Prix

Also flying the flag for Britain this week was John Whitaker and the bay stallion Peppermill in the Munchen Grand Prix.

Ten combinations went through to the jump-off, but the first round proved very difficult with John being one of only two combinations going through on a score of zero. The jump-off saw five clears with John and Peppermill being one of them coming home in 38.71 seconds to take the win.

The previous day also saw John finish second in the 1.50m Sprehe Gold Cup. This time John partnered Dazzle II, a horse he jointly owns with Mandy Hall.

Results

1^st John Whitaker riding Peppermill – 0/0 in 38.71 seconds

2^nd Johannes Ehning riding Salvador V – 4/0 in 39.81 seconds

3^rd Thomas Voss riding Carinjo – 4/0 in 41.25 seconds

Brash has success in Toronto

Great Britain’s Scott Brash, who comes from Peeblesshire in Scotland, won the $100,000 World Cup qualifier in Toronto this week, with Elizabeth McTaggart’s 10-year-old gelding Bon Ami II.

Leading the way with the first clear round of the competition, Scott was later joined by another six competitors for the jump-off. Being the first to go against the clock, he posted another tremendous clear round in a time of 41.95 seconds which just couldn’t be bettered.

Irish eyes may not have been smiling quite as much as they could have been, as hot on Scott;s heels were Ireland’s Conor Swail (Lansdowne) and Dermott Lennon (Hallmark Elite) who finished in second and third place respectively.

“Bon Ami was a little bit sharp yesterday, but he seemed a lot more relaxed this evening” said Scott after the prizegiving. “When I finished my jump-off round I felt a little disappointed in myself as I thought I could have made up a little more time between the last line of fences. It left me thinking I hadn’t done enough to secure first place as I knew there was a strong field behind me, but I suppose I just hadn’t realised quite how fast I had been going. I have to say though that my horse has just been jumping fantastically and I am absolutely thrilled with him."

We caught up with Scott at HOYS - find out what Bon Ami II is known as at home.