Darragh Kenny victorious in Wellington

Steve Stephens (USA) set the courses for Friday’s young jumpers classes. The $20,000 Adequan® 7-Year-Old Young Jumper Classic concluded the day with a win for Ireland’s Darragh Kenny aboard Oakland Ventures and Missy Clark’s Dirocco B. Seventy-eight entries showed in the class, with 18 clear to jump-off, and seven double clear rounds. The riders were given the option to jump-off immediately following their first round or to wait until the end.

Kenny waited until the end of the class to jump-off and raced to the winning time of 36.531 seconds with Dirocco B. He edged out Laura Chapot, who had jumped off earlier with Mary Chapot’s BEC Hugo in 38.40 seconds. Lauren Tisbo and Tequestrian Farms LLC’s Hip Girl finished third in 39.42 seconds.
Kenny and Missy Clark purchased Dirocco B two months ago. The Dutch Warmblood gelding (Zirocco Blue VDL x Lux Z) previously had great success as a six-year-old with rider Devin Ryan, and Kenny has high hopes for the horse’s career.

Commenting on his jump-off round, Kenny detailed, “He is a really naturally very quick horse. You do not really need to change the pace. You just pick up a good pace, and he stays going and then all I had to do was put him at the right distance.”