US rider Kent Farrington is a long-term supporter of Royal Windsor — which he describes as “one of my favourite shows” — and he marked this trip by lifting the King’s Cup for the CSI5* Kingdom of Bahrain Stakes for an impressive third time.
“I’ve always loved coming to this show, it’s a great crowd, great atmosphere, top course designers, top competition and Rolex grand prix money!” he said.
The 43-year-old rider, who is based in Wellington, Florida, is always a tough man to beat under the shadow of the castle, having also won the grand prix here on two occasions, and he was on competitive form going into an Olympic summer.
Drawn first in a seven-strong jump off for this €12,500 (£10,730) 1.55m class, he maintained a 1.71 sec lead on the very useful 11-year-old Landon to beat Italian Giulia Martinego Marquet (Scuderia 1918 Calle Deluxe) to the win.
“It was a fast class, as it always is here, it was great fun,” Kent said. “As first to go I just stuck with my plan for my horse and it worked out in my favour that some other fast rounds had a rail down.”
Bogey fence blasts British hopes
Many promising first rounds unravelled at a turquoise double on the penultimate line, jumped away from the collecting ring, with Scott Brash (Hello Mango), John Whitaker (Unick Du Francport) Robert Whitaker (Evert) and Tim Gredley (Medoc De Toxandria) among those to fault here.
“I think it was a big enough oxer and it was at the end of the arena, which always rides wide,” Kent noted.
Just one Brit, Joe Stockdale with Barbara Hester’s 10-year-old stallion Ebanking, made the cut, while Trevor Breen also jumped a lovely clear with Heather and Ian Blacks’ mare Luidam’s Warrior. On-form performers Laura Kraut (Confu) and Harrie Smolders (Springfield 21) joined the mix.
It was 24-year-old Joe in third draw who provided the only real threat to Kent’s lead, delivering a thrilling round on the chestnut son of Etoulon that axed a spectacular 2.66sec from the target, and he was incredibly unlucky when the last fence fell to the lightest of taps.
“My horse isn’t the fastest horse so for sure the time was beatable but luckily it worked out for me today,” said Kent, who has been riding the McNerneys’ Comilfo Plus Z x Quadrillo gelding since he was a seven-year-old.
“Landon has been a great horse for me, he’s won a couple of 5* grands prix, was on the team that qualified us for the Olympics and won team gold and individual silver at the Pan Am Games. He’s been in good form over the whole of the last season,” he added.
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