Windsor, England—May 14-15
Kent Farrington got to meet the Queen of England. What was the occasion? He was picking up yet another trophy from the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Windsor, England.
Farrington claimed the trophy in both the feature grand prix classes of the week aboard a younger mount, Creedance, topping the Kingdom of Bahrain Stakes for the King’s Cup on May 14 and the Grand Prix for the Kingdom of Bahrain Trophy on May 15.
“I’ve taken two big wins this week so I think I should get out of town quick!” Farrington joked.
“I’m trying to peak my horses at the right time for the right events. I brought a young horse here and he far exceeded my expectations,” he said. “I thought he could be a contender, but I never would have bet money on him coming in and winning both [classes]. He has a new level in my book now.”
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Creedance and Kent Farrington flew to the top of both feature grand prix classes at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. Photo by Paul Harding
Creedance, a 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Lord Z—Camantha, Notaris) jumped his first 1.60-meter class with Farrington in March at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) and has only been in Farrington’s barn since he and RCD Stables bought him in February 2015. Creedance was developed to the 1.35-meter level by Swedish rider Petronella Andersson.
In the Grand Prix for the Kingdom of Bahrain Trophy 1.60-meter class, Farrington fended off a valiant effort by British star John Whitaker on Argento. “Creedance is a naturally fast horse and was flying out there, but I held my breath a bit when John went,” said Farrington. “I grew up watching him and he is still just as good now as he was then.”
But in the end, Farrington and Credance were more than a second faster than Whitaker. “You know it’s not going to over until [Whitaker] goes. Then you have Laura Renwick who is maybe one of the fastest in the world. So we let it fly together,” Farrington said. “I ride a naturally exceptionally fast horse, so that was a big advantage for me today. His footspeed is just so quick across the ground and that gave me the extra edge I needed today.”
Fellow U.S. rider Laura Kraut finished the class in sixth on the veteran Cedric, with a quick four-fault round. Beezie Madden was 15th with Breiling LS after 4 faults in Round 1, while Paris Sellon rode Adare to 20th with 5 faults.
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After an exciting first round, 14 riders came through with faultless scorecards to the jump-off. Canada’s Tiffany Foster, riding Brit Ben Maher’s former London Olympic gold medal winning ride Tripple X III, was second to go and held the lead for almost half the second phase with her clean performance. She was toppled from pole position when Farrington smashed her target by 3 seconds, causing those watching to whoop in delight at the display of calculated horsemanship.
Whitaker then tried to steal the win for the home crowd, but finished 1 second adrift despite a strong start out on the shortened course.
“Up to the planks [halfway around the track] I knew I was quicker,” said Whitaker, who praised Royal Windsor Horse Show’s move to four-star jumping. “Then he spooked at something. I don’t know what it was, so I ended up doing two or three strides more than Kent.”
The final double clear of the class came from Italy’s Piergiorgio Bucci (Casallo Z), but a steadier round than the two prior faultless performers meant third place and handed victory to Farrington.
Farrington, who is on the short list for the U.S. Olympic show jumping team, takes his string to the Rome CSIO on May 25-29, then he’ll spend a few weeks in Spruce Meadows (Alberta) before heading back to Europe for the Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Aachen (Germany) CSIOs.
