LEXINGTON, Ky.--Kent Farrington on Greya won the $400,000 Kentucky International CSI5* Grand Prix despite having to go first in the nine horse jump-off.
Kent Farrington on Greya (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)Farrington made an incredible turn to fence three, an oxer over a liverpool, and laid down such a fast time of 42.93 that no one was able to catch him.
The others in the jump-off then had to try that turn, but it caused two stops and no one did it as smoothly and quickly as Farrington, who won by over two seconds.
Two-time Irish Olympian Shane Sweetnam was second on James Kann Cruz, clean in 45.00, and Mimi Gochman was third on Inclen BH, clean in 46.06.
Farrington calls Greya "a quintessential modern show jumper."
“She’s incredibly fast, super careful, and a fighter,” he said. “She’s a real winner in her heart and an incredible horse, and I’m so proud of her tonight.”
Before a packed house of enthusiastic spectators, a field of 40 from 11 nations competed over the course set by Guilherme Jorge.
“None of these are easy wins,” Farrington said. “You look at the group in the jump-off today; you have top riders with their best horses and up-and-coming riders like Mimi. It was going to be a tough competition no matter what. All there was for me was to do my best round and hope that was enough. I knew I had a chance, but when somebody sets a mark and everybody comes after you, it’s almost always beatable. It’s all depending on how much risk you are willing to take.”
“She’s a very special horse in terms of talent, probably on another level than even many of the great horses I’ve had,” Farrington said. “But her character is very strong. It’s what makes her great, but it took time to build her up. She’s a boss mare, she runs the stable and is in charge and very confident in herself.”
“I KNEW when Kent had gone that he had set the target and that I would have to do everything to catch him,” Sweetnam said. “For me, I didn’t feel I was quick enough at the start, and then I was quicker towards the end. I could have been faster at the start, but my horse jumped great. I’m very happy with him.”
“He’s always a work in progress; he’s got a lot of character and likes to do things his way. He always has,” Sweetnam said of James Kann Cruz. “We have a good system at the moment and have had good results this year. He likes a crowd and likes to show off, and he’s in a good place, but he’s always a work in progress. He likes to throw spanners in the works, but he’s worth the work.”
At age 21, Gochman is a newcomer to the top levels, and she says she has worked hard on her own mental preparedness to be competitive.
“It’s definitely different, and I’m really working on his consistency at this level,” she said. “I like to take a long time to walk the course and think through it. I take more time for each little step and focus on getting good distances and supporting him over every jump. It’s a lot more mental preparation for me to make sure I’m in a good spot. With the physical preparedness, my team does such a good job, so it’s really about getting myself in the right head space to compete at this level.”
Gochman is just out of the junior ranks and has already won a number of top ribbons against the best in the world.
She''s an up-and-coming rider with much to look forward to.
In the jump-off, second and third to go Charlotte Jacobs on Playboy JT Z and Conor Swail of Ireland on Casturano both tried the same turn but had refusals at the liverpool oxer. to finish ninth and eighth respectively.
Sweetnam was next, putting in a clean round two seconds off Farrington’s time.
Luis Fernando Larrazabal of Venezuela was clean, but his mount Condara was a little backed off at the beginning, leaving him to finish in 47.45 seconds for fourth place.
Alex Granato on Helios VD Nosahoeve tried a very tight turn to the penultimate fence but crashed through it to finish fifth with the fastest four-faults in 45.46.
Gochman was smooth and exact for a clean round in 46.06 to place third.
Thaisa Erwin’s of Australia on Hialita B had a rail down for sixth in 46.26.
Last in the ring, Darragh Kenny of Ireland on Eddy Blue was on track to potentially catch Farrington when after a short turn to the penultimate fence he had a stop to finish seventh in 50.06.
