Friday of the Spruce Meadows 'Masters' began with a second victory for former world #1 ranked rider Kent Farrington (USA), this time aboard Orafina (For Fashion x Canturo), a 9-year-old mare, in the 1.50m KUBOTA CSI3* Grand Prix. This is the second day in a row at the 'Masters' that Farrington has won the first competition of the day, putting him in a great position of confidence heading into this weekend's competitions – Farrington also took first place with Austria 2 (Casall x Corrado I) in Thursday's TELUS Cup.
The course for this competition was designed by FEI course designer Leopoldo Palencios (VEN), and featured 13 obstacles and 16 jumping efforts, and a time allowed of 84 seconds over a 545m track. Five athletes made it through to the jump-off: Natalie Dean (USA) on Maestro Vica v/d Ark (Lordanos x Heartbreaker), Mario Deslauriers (CAN) on Emerson (Eldorado vd Zeshoek x Berlin), Jordan Coyle (IRL) on Picador (Lupicor x Concorde), Nayel Nassar (EGY) on Oaks Redwood (ASB Conquistador x Verdi), and, of course, Kent Farrington on Orafina.
With a such a small group jumping-off for first place, a clean round with a fast time was critical. Out of the group, four went clear, leaving it up to time to determine the placings. Nassar's 38.90 seconds was good enough for third place, with Coyle in second place with 37.07 seconds, and Farrington taking the win with 36.59 seconds.
Source: Press Release