IT was a British one-two in front of a packed home crowd in the eighth round of the Western European League Longines FEI World Cup at Olympia in London when Scott Brash became the 15th British rider to record victory in his home leg, aboard Hello M’Lady.

Thrilling the crowd and second last to go, Brash guided the 10-year-old mare to a superb clear round in 38.73 seconds to beat his London 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning team mate Ben Maher, who was the last British rider to win this class in 2011, into second place. The host nation was in flying form with John Whitaker also finishing in fifth place.

Some 35 riders started over Briton Kevin Bywater’s track, including five of the world’s top 10 riders, and 13 of those made it through to the second round.

The jump-off posed challenges throughout with a blind turn back to the a big double, an upright on a curved line and a long gallop down to the final oxer causing problems.

Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson was first into the ring and set the pace with H&M Cue Channa. The next six riders all faulted and only Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca, with the Irish Sport Horse Limerstone Grey, could better her time to finish sixth.

Seventh to go, Maher produced the first clear round with Diva II, the lovely 11-year-old Kannan-sired mare setting the standard when clear in 38.85. America’s Laura Kraut with Zeremonia (0/0 39.63) and Britain’s John Whitaker and Ornellaia (0/0 39.70) followed with clear rounds but couldn’t catch Maher.

Young Belgian talent Nicola Philippaerts was next into the ring and gave Maher’s time a good try with a tight turn back to the second vertical to slot into provisional second place in 39.07 seconds with H&M Harley vd Bisschop. The 23-year-old, whose father Ludo won this class 27 years ago with the famous Darco, finished in eventual third place.

One of the big names exited when Daniel Deusser had both parts of the double down for eight faults. Brash meant business but a bad turn back to the second tall vertical meant Hello M’Lady had to dig deep. He guided the Indoctro mare, who is owned by Lady Kirkham, to a smooth and nimble turn back to the difficult double and saw the perfect galloping stride to the last to shave 0.12 of a second of Maher’s time.

Last to go, Marcus Ehning and Comme Il Faut were hoping to spoil the British party but the round started to unravel before Ehning decided to retire his Madrid leg winner.

Brash revealed afterwards that he is now aiming for the World Cup Finals. “It’s very special to win in front of the home crowd, they were really behind us and it gives you that extra edge! Hello M’Lady is sharp, an exceptional jumper and very much one for the future,” he said.

“I think I will target the FEI World Cup Final this year. I’ve never really targeted it in the past because the calendar is so full and there’s often a championship, but I’m very fortunate to have a strong team, all coming back from injury, including Hello Sanctos,” he added. The win moves Brash to sixth place in the overall standings, while Frenchman Kevin Staut continues to lead on 56 points. The ninth leg takes place at Mechelen on Friday, December 30th.