He’s long been one of the fastest riders on the circuit, and today the French speedster Julien Epaillard (40) showed the rest a very clean pair of heels as he galloped to victory in the eighth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2017/2018 Western European League at Olympia in London (GBR).

At the tail end of an afternoon of tough sport there were only four qualified for the jump-off from a star-studded field of 36. Last to go, Epaillard was chasing the target-time set by 2016 winner, Great Britain’s Scott Brash (32) who broke the beam in 37.34 seconds. But that wouldn’t be quick enough to hold back the flying Frenchman.

“I saw Scott go – he started quickly but I thought he was a bit careful over the last two fences so I had nothing to lose and I took a lot of risk at the last two jumps and it worked,” said Epaillard.

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