Scott Brash denied Olympia victory by Julien Epaillard

Scott Brash emphasised his commitment to winning medals for Britain after finishing runner-up in Olympia’s headline class, the Longines World Cup qualifier, with the veteran Ursula XII.

Olympia is only Brash’s fourth appearance at a British show this year due to his growing commitments on the overseas five-star calendar. His and other riders’ unavailability for the national squad this year has been cited as one of the reasons why Britain did not field a full squad at the European Championship, still a cause of acrimonious debate four months on. Show jumping has been unable to build on its Olympic team gold in 2012.

“I want to win more medals for my country, go to the Olympics and do these things,” he said.

“But I also understand how much it takes: you need to have a top horse, you need to be in top form and injury-free, which we haven’t been this year.

“It’s good to put it behind us, but we have to learn from it. There must be changes and there have to be more riders coming through.”

While he has dropped to 14th from the world No 1 slot two years ago, Brash is still Britain’s top world-ranked rider.

He gave the sell-out Olympia crowd a reminder of his stylish efficiency in the four-horse World Cup jump-off, beaten by just 0.5 seconds by France’s Julien Epaillard and Toupie de la Roque.

The first-round course was the most challenging set here in recent years, and 21 horses all faulted

before European champion Peder Fredricson (H&M Christian K)

delivered the contest’s first clear. Brash was the only one of eight Britons in the 36-starter field to make the cut.

Ursula is now 16 and there has been some discussion about retiring her for breeding. However, she is on top form, also finishing second in the Rolex Top 10 final in Geneva last week.

“A horse tells you when it is ready to retire,” said Brash. “I would like to give Ursula a foal, but while she is jumping like this and happy, we will take each show as it comes.”