Hello Sanctos

Great careers often begin modestly. This is also the case with Hello Sanctos. His breeders, the Taets family, run a dairy farm near Ghent. Breeding horses is their hobby. Sanctos van het Gravenhof, as he was called at the time, was unlucky at first: he was a colt. The colts of the Taets family are usually sold, only the mares are allowed to stay. So the future superstar changed hands for little money at the age of two and a half. Breeder’s daughter Lieve Taets once told our colleagues at Worldofshowjumping.com: “He was very cheap. He didn’t look like anything special.” But this rather inconspicuous-looking bay was something special.

Match made in Heaven

At the age of eight, he came to the US-American Peter Wylde, who also presented him at his first international competitions. Among other things, they won the CSI2* Grand Prix in Oldenburg in the same year. Kathi Offel took over the reins of the gelding in 2009. She was still riding for Ukrainian rider Aleksandr Onischenko at the time and he was looking for potential Olympic horses. Sanctos looked like one. Offel actually had some successes with him, including fifth place in the Prize of Europe at the CHIO Aachen 2011. Nevertheless, the decision was made to sell him – fortunately for Scott Brash. The two had sought and found each other. Kathi Offel told Worldofshowjumping: “Of course it (Sanctos’ sale) was a big loss, in the meantime we know that Sanctos was the right horse for London and much, much more. But I’m not sure Sanctos would have done as well with anyone else as he did with Scott. Heaven brought them together. I think that was the best thing that could have happened to Sanctos. He and Scott were made for each other.”

A very special connection

However, Scott was not so sure at first, as he also expressed in the article. He was unsure whether Sanctos had the ability that a championship horse needs. But at least he saw in him a horse that was good enough to win major prizes. The first appearances at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington were less than glorious. Again and again they had a knockdown and also time faults. But things clicked on the third weekend of the tournament. They won the World Cup show jumping competition as well as another competition. It didn’t matter that they had another 20 faults in the Grand Prix right afterwards. After Wellington, the gelding was given a break. And then he was a clear round machine. “Sanctos started to trust me and my riding,” Brash described. “I think he really needed that partnership to be able to develop that last bit of ability.” He has a very special relationship with Sanctos, says Brash: “I don’t think I’ve ever had such a connection with a horse as I have with Sanctos. There is an understanding between us. On the course, it felt like he knew what I was thinking and I knew what move he was going to make next.”

This should also make it clear what the secret is as to how the pair became the first and so far only pair to win the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping.