Lexington, Ky.—Nov. 2
The crowd at the National Horse Show was starting to get a little nervous. While two riders had jumped clear over course designer Alan Wade’s course for the $125,000 NHS International Grand Prix CSI3* none had made the time.
Then Kent Farrington came into the ring as the 10th rider. He’s been a hot streak this week, having already won the $31,020 1.45-Meter International Welcome and the $31,020 1.45-Meter International Speed with two of his younger mounts.
Aboard Toulayna, he notched the first zero-fault round, paving the way for more to come. Six more riders ultimately joined Farrington in the short course—including Brian Moggre and MTM Vivre Le Reve, the winners of the 2019 edition of the grand prix. First in for the jump-off, Farrington set the standard of 37.91 seconds for all of them to chase.
“The plan was pretty simple: It was to go as fast as I thought I could go,” Farrington said. “I know Brian and his horse are very competitive. They’re very fast against the clock, along with all of the other riders that were there. They weren’t the biggest fences tonight, so that normally means the jump-off is going to be full speed, and luckily I brought a fast horse.”
Moggre and his veteran partner, owned by Major Wager LLC, made a valiant effort. They put in a fast clear, but they stopped the clocks 0.04 second slower, in 37.95 seconds.
“I think that with ‘Erkel’ having a rather big stride, maybe in the first line I could’ve bent the line more and kept going and kept my pace, but really when it comes down to 0.04, Kent is one of the fastest riders in the world,” Moggre said. “I think today was Kent’s day. My horse gave it his all, and if I had to do it again, I would tweak a few things, but I still think Kent could still beat me.”
After Farrington and Moggre’s rounds, riders started faulting. Four faults for Sloan Coles (Ninja JW Van De Moerhoeve), 8 for Brianne Goutal-Marteau (S&L Marlon VD Heffinck), 4 faults for Jessica Springsteen (Don Juan Van De Donkhoeve) and 8 for Simon McCarthy (Narcotique V/H Dingenshof).
ADVERTISEMENT
It wasn’t until the last pair in the ring for both rounds, Alise Oken and Forrestal, that the class got another double-clear round. Their time of 43.05 seconds put them in third place.
“Forrestal, I’ve had since he was 7. He’s 10 this year, but in his brain he’s still 8,” she said of the gelding owned by Hi Hopes Farm LLC. “He’s a bit of a wild child—if you see him go, he always has his ears pinned. He has so much energy, he kind of doesn’t know what to do with it., so I’ve been taking my time a bit with him and not pushing him as much as a more mature horse, but tonight he really came along and jumped amazing, so I was really proud of him tonight.”
Farrington has had Toulayna, a 10-year-old Zangersheide mare (Toulon—Vuelta, Parco), since she was 7. He left her in Europe for the first year with his co-owners, the Phillippaertses, who competed her in some young horse classes. He took over the ride in 2022, and now owns her in partnership with Rabbit Root Stables LLC.
“She was always very, very careful; [she has] a lot of blood,” Farrington said. “A lot of energy is what I look for in a show jumper. I think it’s very modern horse, a kind of a Thoroughbred style of the classic sport horse.”
This year, Farrington took Toulayna to the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final (Saudi Arabia). He rode both her and Greya, finishing fourth. After that he jumped her in several five-star classes, and the National served as a warm-up for her next big show, the CHI Geneva, which is also indoors.
The Chronicle will be on site, bringing you gorgeous photos, interviews and more, so check back during the week. Make sure to follow along at www.coth.com and on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. For full analysis and coverage from the horse show be sure to check out the Nov. 18 issue of the magazine.
