THERMAL, Calif.--Kent Farrington on Orafino dominated the $117,000, CSI5*-W Qualifier, winning by over two seconds on Thursday, Jan. 29 at Desert Circuit 4.
Kent Farrington on Orafino (High Desert Sport Photo)It was the second week in a row that Farrington won the Welcome Stake.
This time, Farrington was the first of 30 entries to compete over the course designed by Alan Wade and Colm Quinn, and, while 24 other competitors had faults, Orafina made the track look easy.
The same was true when it came time for the jump-off.
As the first to go in the jump-off, Farrington finished clean in 34.83 seconds, a time that would prove far from catchable.
Gregory Wathelet of Belgium on Argentina de la Marchette finished second as the only other to finish clean, stopping the clock on 36.95 seconds.
Callie Schott on Uricas v/d Kattenvennen finished third with four faults in 41.05 seconds.
“ORAFINO is an exceptional horse, a horse that I know very well, an incredible winner,” said Farrington. “She can do things that many other horses can’t do. She can travel at a super high rate of speed. She has a giant stride, so she can do less strides than other horses, but she can also do them quickly. Then she’s razor sharp, careful at the jump. That’s a big advantage in our sport today.”
Of being the first to go in the class, Farrington said, “What’s an advantage and what’s a disadvantage? A disadvantage is you don’t get to watch everybody else. The advantage is that you get to set the pace for the class, and if you know your horse very well, sometimes that’s more helpful because you just do your round. You haven’t watched anybody else to confuse your plan, and you just go out and do what you set to do. For me, sometimes that is helpful, and I thought today, I’m just doing my routine with my horse and not too worried about somebody else’s plan.”
The Welcome Stake was a qualifier for Saturday night’s featured event, the $340,000 CSI5* Longines FEI Jumping World Cup – Thermal and sets the order of go in reverse order of qualification.
