Who Jumped It Best? The Rolex Water at CHIO Aachen

We’ve just about dried out from — and emotionally recovered from — the wet and wild cross-country finale at CHIO Aachen CCIO4*-S last Saturday, and that means there’s just one thing for it: a seriously tough game of Who Jumped It Best. This week, we’re focusing our attentions on the first water complex, the Rolex Water at 8AB, 9, and 10AB, to pick the best of the bunch at this influential question.

After jumping a hefty log-drop into the water at 8A — a drop that came quickly after a MIM-clipped oxer at 7 — our competitors had very little space to regain their composure before they met the fence in question today, a brush-topped arrowhead on a right-handed turn at 8B. But that wasn’t the last fence they had to tackle in the tough Rolex Water complex — after jumping the skinny we’ll be judging in this session of Who Jumped It Best, they continued on that right-handed trajectory, jumped a big, wide brush at 9, which was effectively a half-circle away, and then completed that circle by cantering back under the bridge and jumping a double of skinny brush pimples.

That means that your job while voting is a multifaceted one: not only are you looking to judge which horse and rider recovered best from the drop in, and met the skinny arrowhead in the most balanced fashion — you’re also looking to see which ones look to have set up their right-handed turn the best, maintaining the positivity and trajectory they need to navigate the rest of the complex.

Reckon you’re up to the challenge? Let’s take a look at our contenders…