He was the trailblazer as the first starter in the heats of the Turkish Airlines Prize on Wednesday evening at CHIO Aachen: Kent Farrington and his Holstein mare Myla made the course with its obstacles over 1.60m look easy. The American and his Crunch daughter not only stayed faultless, but were also fast and secured themselves the pole position as the last starter in the final heat. And the advantage should hold until the end.
Kent Farrington and the ten-year-old brown mare flew to the finish in 38.53 seconds, thus snatching victory from Daniel Bluman and Corbie v. V. (v. Cornet Obolensky) by a nose. The pair had taken 38.81 seconds for the steeplechase course. Third place was taken by Ben Maher with Dallas Vegas Batilly (v. Cap Kennedy).
„You’re always happy when you win. That was already a challenge. As the last one, of course I could take more risks; that worked well today,“ Kent Farrington laughs afterwards and praises his sport partner: „Myla has a big heart in a small body; she almost looks like a pony, but she does everything for you.“
Daniel Bluman, however, was not so happy with second place. „Of course I would rather be sitting in Kent's saddle and I was a bit frustrated at first, but I have to be realistic: the best riders in the world are here; I can be satisfied with second place.“
Ben Maher, on the other hand, had not taken any risks at all. „I wasn’t so lucky in the final jumps and that’s why I didn’t want to risk my horse and not take the last chance,“ Ben Maher admitted after his round in the final jump. „I left a bit of the door open for the others. But my horse is good and confident in the jump and that’s what counts for me today.“
After all, 13 pairs had their ticket to the jump competition solved after flawless rounds, including five German riders. The best German rider was Richard Vogel with his Holsteiner gelding Cloudio (v. Casall) in fourth place. Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Singclair (v. Singular LS La Silla) jumped to sixth place. Hans-Dieter Dreher and Vestmalle of the Cotis (v. Baloubet du Rouet) finished seventh ahead of Gerrit Nieberg and Ping Pong van de Lentamel (v. Emerald).
The whole result: HERE
All photos by Peggy Schröder for spring-reiter.de. Contact via Instagram or email: info@peggyschroeder.de