Making the most of an advantageous position in the jump-off, Kent Farrington won the $213,300 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington last night with his longtime partner, the fleet mare Gazelle.
Eighth to go in the nine-horse tiebreaker, with no one achieving a clean round to that point, Kent proceeded carefully to log what would be the only fault-free trip over Bernardo Costa Cabral’s course for the tiebreaker in the FEI World Cup qualifier at the 4-star National Horse Show in Kentucky.
Daniel Bluman was fast with Ladriano Z, just back after recovery from an injury, but his time of 32.62 seconds would only be good enough for third due to a dropped rail in a combination that proved to be troublesome.
McLain Ward rode his Tokyo Olympic team silver mount Contagious, looking for his sixth win in the National’s featured jumper competition. His lightning time of 32.60 seconds would have been good enough to win, but he had to settle for second as 4 faults at that double kept the door open for Kent.
Calling Bernardo “a phenomenal course designer,” McLain said when he sees that name on a prizelist, he is excited because, “I always have confidence that it is going to be a good and fair test with a lot of horsemanship, and we as riders really appreciate that.. There were a fair bit of horses clear and it made for a nice jump off. “
Kent Farrington and Gazelle. (Photo by Phelps/Georgie Hammond)
Explaining his strategy, Kent said, “I only had one rider after me and I felt as though a neat clear round was a smart play.” Smart is practically Kent’s middle name, and his experience underlined what would be a winning fault-free round in 35. 96 seconds on Gazelle to take the title. Margie Engle, the final rider, had a rail on Dicas to leave the victory for Kent.
“I have a very experienced horse, and she has been an amazing horse for me and my career,” Kent said after claiming the trophy.
He noted that Gazelle’s owner, Robin Parsky, “has been very supportive of my management of this horse and that is part of what has made her last so long, being able to move her up and drop her back.
“The first round, she was hyper-careful, so there was a little bit of jockeying around. I thought that the jump off was a good opportunity to let her settle down and go for a cruise and that worked out for me for the win.”
In the show’s Sunday finale, the ASPCA Maclay ran for 11 hours before Zayna Rizvi on Finnick was judged the best in a field of 175. Catalina Peralta finished second with a catch ride, the Holsteiner Clover, followed by Audrey Schulze aboard Mac One III, owned by Taylor Madden, daughter of her coach, Frank Madden.
Zayna Rizvi and Finnick on their way to victory (Phelps photo/Georgie Hammond)
The top four, which included Tessa P. Brown in fourth place, had to ride a final test without stirrups. After all, it’s “No-Stirrups November.”
Archie Cox, the California horseman who judged the class with a former Maclay winner, Keri Kampsen, called it “a true championship” citing a tough course put together by. Bobby Murphy, with input from the judges.The route included several eye-catching fences, among them a double of ivy-covered walls that had to be taken in both directions, and a stand-alone pink wall with a hole in it that was worth a double-take.
Archie termed the route, “well-balanced–if you went to the right, if you went to the left, you had to go forward and had to go back.” It required horses to be “electric to the aids” to handle the challenges and the bending lines.
Zayna, a 16-year-old from Wellington, Fla., who is an experienced jumper rider, called Finnick, a Westphalian owned by Jordyn Rose Freedman, her “soulmate.” She said of her win, “I’ve been working toward this all year, so this is a really great way to end my season. It means so much to me. I’m very thankful.”
She is trained by John Brennan and his wife, Missy Clark, who assessed Zayna as “such a remarkable talent…she makes it easy.”
Catalina, trained by Stacia Klein Madden of Beacon Hill Show Stables of Colts Neck,N.J., was tearful as she talked about a tough year, having lost two horses and family members..
“Although I didn’t end up with a win, I am extremely grateful to be able to be reserve champion and just compete in this class with a fantastic horse like Clover,” said Catalina, an 18-year-old from Geneva, Fla. Clover is a Holsteiner owned by Sail Horse Investments.
“Stacia is incredible, she has helped me so much in overcoming such difficulties. I’m so grateful for the team at Beacon Hill, they are my family.”
Stacia responded, “You have to go to what you know works, and you have to go to your fall=back. When you put together a team that you trust and you have your faith in, and you have horses that you know like the back of your hand and you’ve got great owners that allow you the opportunity to have access to those horses when you need them, it really just falls into place.”
Audrey, 18, a resident of Ridgewood, N.J., was first to go in the class at 7 a.m., but she wasn’t intimidated.
“I was prepared coming into this week,” she said, explaining the jumping order came out days ago.
“I had had all week to think about it. I knew I was ready and going to execute it exactly as I walked it,” she said.
Frank Madden said :”We came here trying to stick to our game plan. I said to Audrey, `It doesn’t matter if you go first or 100th.'”
Archie said Audrey “gave a riding lesson” with her performance, citing the way she, clucked inside the double. He called it “horsemanship.”
Being on the dais was a bit surreal for Frank Madden, since he had coached both Keri and Stacia (now his ex-wife) in their wins decades ago.
“I feel so old sitting up here with two former students,” he confessed good-naturedly.
