Kent Farrington is on Fire, Winning $200,000 MARS Equestrian Grand Prix CSI4* Aboard Toulayna
Some of the world’s biggest stars were out to compete for top honors on Saturday night at World Equestrian Center – Ocala (WEC) for the highlight event of the week, the $200,000 MARS Equestrian Grand Prix CSI4*. Crowds filled the WEC Grand Arena once again to watch a star-studded field deliver their best, but in a battle between three of the world’s top riders, it was World No. 3 Kent Farrington (USA) who added another international win to his growing list, aboard Toulayna (Toulon x Parco), owned by Rabbit Root Stables, LLC.
The tracks on Saturday night were impressive. Designed by 2024 Paris Olympic course designer Gregory Bodo (FRA) with assistance from Pieter Vitse (BEL), the course was technical at a glance, but the real challenge came from the tight time allowed, which caught several riders. In the end, only three made it through to the jump-off: World No. 8 and Paris Olympian Richard Vogel (GER), two-time Olympic gold medalist and World No. 7 McLain Ward (USA), and World No. 3 and Olympic silver medalist Kent Farrington (USA), setting up for an exciting showdown.
Richard Vogel (GER) was first to jump-off, piloting his talented Event De L’heribus (Emir De Vy x Komanche Des Fontenis). “It was a tough track and the time allowed was tight enough, as we saw later on. Overall, it was a challenging but very fair course. My horse is naturally fast, but he’s still quite inexperienced at this level, so to start off like that, I’m very proud and happy with him tonight.”
Vogel and the 10-year-old German-bred gelding gave a great effort in the jump-off, but picked up 12 faults in 45.24 seconds. “He handled the first round really well and gave me a super feeling. He’s still green at this level and needs to get used to the speed, but I couldn’t be happier with him today,” Vogel added.
Next in was McLain Ward, riding High Star Hero (Zazu x Darco), owned by Michael and Wendy Smith. Ward entered with a clear goal. “Kent’s on a pretty epic roll right now — everything’s working, and he’s doing a brilliant job. He has more experience with his horse, and she’s one of the fastest out there. With Richard having a couple down, I figured I’d be neat but not crazy.”
Ward and the 12-year-old Belgian Sport Horse gelding posted a clear in 49.74 seconds, putting pressure on Farrington.
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