All week the Irish riders have been dominating on home ground at the Dublin Horse Show. However, today American rider Kent Farrington put an end to that when he won the world famous Longines Grand Prix of Dublin.
The course, designed by Irish course designer Alan Wade, was long and very testing. It was techincal but fair and fences fell all around the course. It wasn't until no.16 on the starter list, Irish rider Conor Swail , that we had our first clear. The track caused some heartbreak for many riders as many decided to retire early on in the course, including Olympic Bronze medallist Cian o Connor and Team USA member Charlie Jayne. Wade included every trick in the course designers book. The line between fence three and four caused many problems. The riders had to open up the jump the wide oxer before having to quickly shorten up for the tall stile fence. The next jump was the water jump, only one or two riders fell victim to it, but many more fell victim to the fence after it, which was once again a very tall vertical.
In the end only eight out of forty riders progressed to the jump off, including three for the home nation. Conor Swail was the first to go and he put a great amount of pressure on the riders to come when he rode a fantastic, fast clear on the 9 year old stallion Grand Cru V. Vijf Eiken ( x Contact vd Heffinck).
One rider later, Kevin Babington for Ireland took the lead with the mare Shorapur, shaving just under a second off of Swail's time. Babington's lead was short lived, however, as Kent Farrington soon took over with the gelding Uceko.
Bertram Allen tried to repeat his win from last year but unfortunately his stallion Romanov slammed on the breaks just before the final line, he then had the penultimate fence and slipped down the leaderboard.
In the end, no one could catch Kent's time and he was crowned victorious. Kevin Babington took second place, while Conor Swail took third. Swail was also awarded the Leading International Rider of the Show award.
Full Results
Photos ©Equnews.com - Lorinda Crowley
