Kent Farrington and Voyeur.
Lexington, KY – Nov. 5, 2016 – For the second year in a row, Kent Farrington and Voyeur, a 14-year-old KWPN gelding owned by Amalaya Investments, won the $250,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Lexington CSI4*-W at the CP National Horse Show. After helping Team USA clinch the team silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games this summer, the duo is still proving they are one of the best in the world with Saturday night’s big win.
“I was really hungry to win something tonight,” said Farrington. “I had not won anything all week. I don’t think anyone even knew I was here! Last week at Washington I knocked one down in the jump-off so I was looking for redemption.”
Forty of the world’s top international horses and athletes turned out for the highlight event of the week in Lexington, Kentucky, all striving to collect valuable ranking points within the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League in lieu of the 2017 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Omaha, Nebraska.
Canadian course designer Michel Vaillancourt built a challenging serpentine of 13 obstacles, set to test athletes over wide oxers, liverpools, an oxer-vertical-oxer triple combination, a triple bar, skinny verticals and a vertical-liverpool double combination. At the end of the first round, 14 combinations jumped clear to advance to the jump-off.
“I knew we had a strong field tonight,” said Vaillancourt. “I had envisioned having eight or 10 clear rounds with the quality of riders we had. I thought the course was proper. This venue is larger than most and the ring rides more forward than most indoors so the time-allowed was tighter. A lot of the jumps I expected to cause faults didn’t really do that. I really praise the athletes here for negotiating the course. They showed us that they are top quality and that we should be proud to have such quality in North America. Our job as course designers is getting tougher and tougher thanks to the riders. They came prepared tonight.”
Callan Solem and VDL Wizard
Coming off of a second place finish in the $100,000 Grand Prix de Penn National CSI3* at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in October, Callan Solem (USA) and VDL Wizard, owned by Horseshoe Trail Farm Inc., were fourth in the jump-off and the early double clear pathfinders, finishing with no faults in 40.690 seconds.
“I thought the course was plenty difficult and the footing here is very good so the horses jump nicely on it,” said Solem. “I am thrilled with my horse. He has had a big year. He is my only horse for these type of competitions so he’s had a full schedule. He felt as good tonight as he did in January. It’s really important to have a break now before gearing up for the two last qualifiers in Florida.”
Farrington returned one round later and was bound and determined to finish clear and in a time that couldn’t be beat by the remaining eight athletes, in addition to being faster than Solem. He saw that plan through, outpacing Solem’s time by four full seconds in 36.930 seconds to take over the lead.
“Kent is definitely one of the best in the world,” said Solem. “I could not have made a plan that would have beat him tonight on that horse.”
“My plan was to be super aggressive in the jump-off and try to make everyone chase me after that,” said Farrington. “I thought my horse was fantastic. He is a speed specialist. I try to keep him under control towards the end of the course so that he doesn’t get running too fast. I thought he was fantastic tonight. I’m thrilled with the result. It wasn’t my smoothest round, but I wanted to lay down a difficult round to beat. My horse delivered tonight and I couldn’t be happier.”
Molly Ashe Cawley and Carissimo
While others continued to struggle and collect faults around the short course, Molly Ashe Cawley (USA) and Maarten Huygens’ Carissimo opted for a more conservative round to go for the clear and crossed the finish line in 45.860 seconds. Their double clear round would be the last of the class, garnering them third place honors, while Farrington took the first place prize and Solem finished in second.
“I was nervous to do the inside turn from one to two because I wasn’t sure he would jump it at this stage in the game. He’s had his confidence shaken and it was a big enough oxer on a tight enough turn. I played it safe. I wanted to get an OK time without knocking anything down — let these freaks chase themselves,” laughed Cawley. “I wasn’t going to outrun them so I was hoping for exactly what happened.
“When I walked the course I thought it was quite large,” continued Cawley. “It rode really well. My horse stepped up to the plate really nicely tonight. We sold him and then I got him back at the end of the summer so we’ve been getting him going again. He’s a bit older and he doesn’t owe us anything. Hopefully we will get the young ones up and running again in Florida because they are on break right now. I don’t have any World Cup plans unless somebody steps up and surprises me. I’m going to keep [Carissimo] going as long as we can. If it’s the right time to show him, we’ll show him.”
After Saturday, eight of the 14 qualifying events of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League have been completed. In addition to winning the CP National Horse Show’s CSI4*-W class, Farrington also won the $216,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping New York CSI4*-W at the American Gold Cup in September aboard Gazelle. Currently, Farrington is ranked number one in the East Coast standings of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League, putting him in strong contention to qualify for Omaha.
Kent Farrington and Voyeur
“I don’t know if I’d make Voyeur jump all of those rounds,” said Farrington. “I have some younger horses coming up. There’s still some time before World Cup Finals so I hope they come out strong before April. I’d love to go, but I only want to go if I feel like I have a horse where I could stand a chance. I’ve done it enough times and know what to expect.”
Solem and VDL Wizard were the top U.S. horse and athlete at the 2016 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Gothenburg. The pair also made it on the Olympic short list for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Now, they are looking to qualify for World Cup Finals once again.
“It was such an honor to be on a team with Kent, McLain, Beezie and Laura over the summer in Europe [during the Olympic Nations Cup observation events],” Solem said. “I learned so much from being around them. Coming back, it was a fine line between applying what you’ve learned and giving [VDL Wizard] a break, while preparing for the shows coming up. It is really important to listen to your horses; they will tell you what the next best move is. The result tonight made me feel like I made some good choices.”
Charlie Jacobs accepting the M. Michael Meller style award.
During the opening ceremonies of Saturday’s main event in the Alltech Arena at the CP National Horse Show, Charlie Jacobs was awarded the M. Michael Meller Style Award, which was presented to Jacobs by Michael Meller and Sandy Van Dyke, by unanimous decision of the committee. During its inaugural year at the National Horse Show, this award was presented in honor of Sandy’s mother, Pat Van Dyke Fischer. Pat was a life-long equestrian with an amazing passion for the sport. The M. Michael Meller Style Award will be presented each year to the international equestrian who exemplifies the best style of riding along with maintaining a sportsmanlike composure. Previous winners at events in 2015 and 2016 include Andres Rodriguez, Chloe Reid, Alison Robitaille and Conor Swail.
“Receiving this award is very flattering,” said Jacobs. “I was a lifelong friend to Pat and I knew her quite well. She spent some time at my family’s Deeridge Farm. It is an honor to be presented this award by Michael in her legacy.”
In addition, the Audi of Lexington Leading International Open Jumper Rider Award went to Ireland’s Richie Moloney, while Jessica Springsteen (USA) won the Martha Jolicoeur Leading Lady Rider Award.
Jessica Springsteen
At the conclusion of Saturday evening’s festivities, National Horse Show President Mason Phelps, Jr. said, “We are certainly pleased we were awarded the eighth leg of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping North American League. This is the fourth time we have hosted it at the National Horse Show and we look forward to hosting it again in the future! We have a great team that works together here. This year, we had Matt and Michael Morrissey with the support of J.P. Bordeleau. Without them, none of this would have been possible.”