They talk about horses for courses, but what about course designers for horses?
Anderson Lima, who designed April’s FEI World Cup Show Jumping Finals, was at the helm in Sunday’s $400,000 Longines Hampton Classic grand prix, and the winner turned out to be the same both times: Kent Farrington on Greya.
All but two of the 31 entries in the featured 5-star class of the Long Island show had trouble with the route, where designer Nick Granat assisted. Until the last horse went, world number one Kent had stood alone with a perfect trip on his 12-year-old super mare.
Kent on his way to victory with Greya.
But 22 rides after that lone clear round, his friend and often-rival, McLain Ward, also turned in a perfect trip with a relatively new mount, Lestro vd Valckenborg. It set up a jump-off in which the crowd was treated to a duel of champions.
Kent, who had won the class twice previously, was fault-free in a time of 41.82 seconds after a strategic cut to the Brain Juice oxer, the seventh fence on the shortened course. McLain got a good angle on the obstacle before that, the wishing well vertical, but went a bit wider at the oxer, which may have been where he lost an instant to end up on 42.56 seconds and take second place.
He missed out on his eighth win in the class (he already holds the record for victories. But his effort secured the Longines Leading Rider title, and offered good consolation, carrying a $20,000 check.
Third place went to the fastest of the 4-faulters in the first round, 2024 Olympic individual gold medalist Christian Kukuk of Germany on Akarad Tivoli Z.
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