Kent Farrington and Greya, followed by Karl Cook and Caracole de la Roque on their victory lap at La Baule. (Photo by Melanie Smith Taylor)
It doesn’t exactly make up for the disappointing sixth-place U.S. finish in Friday’s Nations Cup at La Baule, France, but it was encouraging to see two candidates for the American Olympic team finish 1-2 Sunday in the $540,000 Rolex Grand Prix Ville de La Baule in the picturesque seaside city.
Kent Farrington won on his own 10-year-old Greya in a field heavy with big names. He and the Oldenburg mare were double-clear in 34.09 seconds, with Karl coming close on the speedy Caracole de la Roque (34.21) in the 11-horse jump-off. The best-placed non-American was Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet on Bond James Bond de la Hay (one of the best horse names!), much slower in 37.79.
“I’ve been second here before, actually,” Kent said, “so I wanted some good revenge.”
It was Greya’s first international victory since Kent started riding her in September 2021. He and Karl were the only U.S. riders to qualify for the jump-off in the field of 50. McLain Ward had 4 in the first round with Ilex to finish twenty-first, while Lillie Keenan was four places back of that with eight faults on Argan de Beliard . Aaron Vale was forty-third on 16 faults with Carissimo 25.
The course for the La Baule grand prix was laid out by Gregory Bodo, who will design the show jumping route for the Paris Olympics.
In Friday’s Nations Cup, things did not go as well for Kent. as they did in the grand prix. He was eliminated in the first round aboard Landon, and did not show in the second round of the class, which was won by Germany, with France and Belgium completing the podium. Other scores for the U.S. were 4/0 for Karl, 0/8 for Lillie and 4/8 for Aaron. All three were on the same horses they rode in the grand prix.
Click here for grand prix results
click here for Nations Cup results