SAUGERTIES, N.Y.--Kent Farrington on Grass de Mars won the $125,000 CSI3* Grand Prix in a five horse jump-off at HITS during Championship Week on Saturday, Sept. 6,
Kent Farrington on Grass de Mars (Photo by ESL Photography)Five from the starting field of 35 made the jump-off over the course set by Alan Wade, including Daniel Bluman of Israel on Kapitaal L, Farrington with Grass de Mars, Nayel Nassar of Egypt on Ivory TCS, Luis Larrazabal of Venezuela on Jon Snow and Philip McGuane of Irelaith Orphea HQ.
“You’ve got a top course builder today in Alan Wade, so the course sort of separated the field,” said Farrington. “In the Welcome on Thursday, he had many clear rounds, so today he knew that even though this is a three-star, the caliber of horses and riders that are here is very strong. He built a proper course, and there were not so many clear. That’s usually the sign of a well built course is that the entire course can have faults all over the place with different strengths and weaknesses depending on the horse.”
In the jump-off, Bluman was clean in 41.88 seconds, then, Farrington finished faster in 39.14 seconds to take over the top spot.
NASSAR AND Larrazabal followed, each having a rail down, leaving Farrington in the lead.
Last to go, McGuane came up just fractions of a second off the pace, stopping the clock in 39.20 seconds, so Farrington won it, while McGuane finished second and Bluman was tthird.
“She’s very fast; she wins a lot,” said Farrington of Grass de Mars. “She’s different than my other horses, though. She’s got an attitude like a big puppy dog. She’s very friendly, very easy to manage. She’s not spooky or super high strung. She’s pretty chilled out. She knows her job in the ring, and she’s super pro. I’ve got great support behind me from a number of different people, including Katie Robinson, who owns ‘Grass’ with me, and we’ve had a lot of fun with her and are looking forward to the future."
