WELLINGTON, Fla. — My first look at the order of go for the Winter Equestrian Festival’s $391,000 Fidelity Investments CSI 5-star Grand Prix revealed what seemed to be an almost sure bet: with the advantage of going last on the speedy Gazelle, it appeared Kent Farrington would be the likely winner.
It was close, but Kent lost by less than half a second to the FEI World Equestrian Games individual silver medalist, Martin Fuchs of Switzerland on Clooney, a grey son of Cornet Obolensky. This was Martin’s first visit to the WEF (he’s here for three months with his American girlfriend, Paris Sellon) and he was “having a very good time” and loving the break from the European weather it even before he picked up his paycheck Saturday night.
Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs and Clooney. (Photo©2019 by Nancy Jaffer)
Martin thought Kelvin Bywater’s course looked “a bit too easy for a 5-star grand prix” when he walked it, and figured the time allowed would be a factor, but it wasn’t. As a result, 18 riders–nearly half the 40-entry class —came back for the jump-off, where Clooney’s “exceptional” long stride gave him the edge over Gazelle. Kent saw Martin leave out a stride before the double, but he worried it was “too much risk” and that if he tried it, the mare might stop. It was, as usual from Kent, smart thinking, but relying on Gazelle’s foot speed and hope wasn’t quite enough to overtake his rival.
Irish rider Richie Moloney was less than a second behind Kent on the Irishbed Rocksy Music, who he thinks is “going to be my best horse.”
The jump-off didn’t work out for McLain Ward, another favorite who had a refusal with Contagious, and Beezie Madden on Coach, 10th after dropping a rail.
It was the first 5-star grand prix of the season, so the riders understood that the designer needed to think about that rather than laying out a route that was too difficult for this time of the year, even with so many international stars in the field.
Clooney made a comeback after colic surgery last year, and his team was devoted to his recovery. Martin, his mother (Martin’s a member of a famous show jumping family), Clooney’s owner and the groom took turns getting up every two hours at night to check the horse, even though he had a camera in his stall.
During Clooney’s recovery he couldn’t wear a saddle, so he would get four hours of hand-walking a day and work out on a rented treadmill. That kept him in shape so he could place in three 5-star grands prix before the WEG.