Ireland's Darragh Kenny continued a stellar week at the 'National' Tournament, presented by ROLEX, when he won the $35,000 Encana Cup 1.45m with Picolo. Jaime Azcarraga (MEX) and Matador were victorious in the $35,000 RBC Capital Markets Cup 1.50m Winning Round class. The 'National' Tournament, presented by ROLEX, is the first of five tournaments in the Summer Series and runs through Sunday, June 8. The highlight of the week is Saturday's $400,000 RBC Grand Prix presented by ROLEX. Also on Saturday is the $60,000 TransCanada Parcours de Chasse, while the 210,000 CNOOC Nexen Cup 1.50m Derby is on Sunday, June 8. For his second International Ring win ever, Darragh Kenny set an early unbeatable pace with Oakland Ventures LLC's Picolo. The 11-horse jump-off in the $35,000 Encana Cup 1.45m was stacked full of big names like Spooner, Foster, Lamaze, and Ward, but Kenny and Picolo completed the jump-off course in their usual smooth fashion in 38.90 seconds. They were 1.3 seconds faster than Richard Spooner (USA) and Amparo Z, owned by Legacy Stables LLC (40.23 seconds). Third place went to Mac Cone (CAN) on Vannety B. They finished in 40.80 seconds. “I knew there were a lot of people in the jump-off that were very fast,” Kenny acknowledged. “I had to go early in the jump-off. He's a very capable horse; he's very fast. I thought I'd just go for it and leave the door closed. Lucky enough, that worked out for me.” Kenny was full of praise for Picolo, who is an 11-year-old gelding by Diamant de Semilly x Alme. “He just wins and wins and wins and tries so hard,” he said. “When you get a horse that wants to do that much for you, it's incredible.” This is only the second year that Kenny has shown at Spruce Meadows; last year he came with more clients and only had one horse for the major classes. “Now I'm lucky, I have a couple of very good owners and some really nice horses, and I get to do this at the level I want to do it at,” he said. In just three days, Kenny has had 13 top three finishes across four competition rings on eight different horses. When asked if he thought he would have a week like this, he replied, “No, I didn't. I know I have some good horses and some very competitive horses, but you have the best riders in the world here. To try and beat them is very, very difficult. It's extremely difficult to win here. To do that, I'm very lucky. It's all about what you're riding. You can do the best you can, but if you're riding something that doesn't want to win, you have no chance.”
Ireland's Darragh Kenny continued a stellar week at the 'National' Tournament, presented by ROLEX, when he won the $35,000 Encana Cup 1.45m with Picolo. Jaime Azcarraga (MEX) and Matador were victorious in the $35,000 RBC Capital Markets Cup 1.50m Winning Round class. The 'National' Tournament, presented by ROLEX, is the first of five tournaments in the Summer Series and runs through Sunday, June 8. The highlight of the week is Saturday's $400,000 RBC Grand Prix presented by ROLEX. Also on Saturday is the $60,000 TransCanada Parcours de Chasse, while the 210,000 CNOOC Nexen Cup 1.50m Derby is on Sunday, June 8. For his second International Ring win ever, Darragh Kenny set an early unbeatable pace with Oakland Ventures LLC's Picolo. The 11-horse jump-off in the $35,000 Encana Cup 1.45m was stacked full of big names like Spooner, Foster, Lamaze, and Ward, but Kenny and Picolo completed the jump-off course in their usual smooth fashion in 38.90 seconds. They were 1.3 seconds faster than Richard Spooner (USA) and Amparo Z, owned by Legacy Stables LLC (40.23 seconds). Third place went to Mac Cone (CAN) on Vannety B. They finished in 40.80 seconds. “I knew there were a lot of people in the jump-off that were very fast,” Kenny acknowledged. “I had to go early in the jump-off. He's a very capable horse; he's very fast. I thought I'd just go for it and leave the door closed. Lucky enough, that worked out for me.” Kenny was full of praise for Picolo, who is an 11-year-old gelding by Diamant de Semilly x Alme. “He just wins and wins and wins and tries so hard,” he said. “When you get a horse that wants to do that much for you, it's incredible.” This is only the second year that Kenny has shown at Spruce Meadows; last year he came with more clients and only had one horse for the major classes. “Now I'm lucky, I have a couple of very good owners and some really nice horses, and I get to do this at the level I want to do it at,” he said. In just three days, Kenny has had 13 top three finishes across four competition rings on eight different horses. When asked if he thought he would have a week like this, he replied, “No, I didn't. I know I have some good horses and some very competitive horses, but you have the best riders in the world here. To try and beat them is very, very difficult. It's extremely difficult to win here. To do that, I'm very lucky. It's all about what you're riding. You can do the best you can, but if you're riding something that doesn't want to win, you have no chance.”