Darragh Kenny became the first Irish rider for 17 years to win the World Cup leg at the London International Horse Show – on a horse he thinks is one of the best he’s ever ridden.
Darrah and Carol Sollak’s Eddy Blue triumphed from second draw to finish ahead of Ben Maher (Point Break) in second and Robert Whitaker (Vermento) third.
“I’m delighted,” Darrah said. “This is a show I’ve watched since I was a little kid. When you’re growing up and want to ride at this level, you think ‘That’s a cool show; I’ld love to compete there’; so just to get the opportunity to compete at this level is fantastic. To win is amazing.”
Bernardo Costa Cabral’s track had proved tough; delicate, twisty and technical, it asked questions at every step and all but five of the 37 riders were caught out somewhere.
First into the jump-off was Tim Gredley, with his family’s Imperial HBF, who clipped the horse-head oxer to finish on four faults.
Next came Darragh, who set his stall out from the first line, taking a stride out on the big, ground-covering 12-year-old. They galloped without turning a hair to the vertical at fence nine that had caught so many out in the first round, and finished on a beautiful curving line to the last oxer, to stop the clock on 34.76 seconds.
After Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames My Prins came unstuck at the tricky Agria vertical, with two stops meaning elimination, Ben came in with Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s 10-year-old. The compact, game little stallion has been in great form and showed his class; but an exuberant buck before the tight rollback to the Agria fence may have slowed them down slightly, and they finished on 35.15.
Last to go was the combination that had already enjoyed a World Cup victory this season, in Helsinki, and the Blatchfords’ scopey stallion jumped his heart out for Robert – but as the rail of the Longines oxer at fence one was lying on the ground behind them, they finished as the fastest four-faulters in 40.09 seconds.
“I knew I would have to do some really, really fast stuff, as these guys are brilliant and on form,” Daragh said. “I knew I had to throw it down and [Eddy Blue] was unbelievable.”
Darragh credited the stride he took out on the second line as key to his success; Eddy Blue has such a big stride, he knew the others might struggle to match him.
“With Ben coming behind you, you never know if you’ve done enough but Eddy Blue jumped great and it all worked out,” he said.
Darragh said he may now aim for some more World Cup legs, with this one under his belt.
“He may be the one of best horses I’ve ever sat on and I want to give him the opportunity to go to the big shows,” he said. “When I got him, he was quite difficult, with so many quirks; I did a lot of 1.30m classes to get him going and confident but his capabilities are endless. He’s so light on his feet, so, so careful, such a massive stride and so scopey. So now he’s got his confidence and trust in me, there’s not much this horse couldn’t do.”
Ben, who won this class last year with Enjeu De Grisien, said he has been delighted with the way Point Break has come into his own recently.
“He was showing great form in the middle of the year but I think switching [Dallas Vegas Batilly] for him for the Olympics was the best thing that could have happened for him,” he said. “He’s a special horse and I’m happy to be able to ride him. He was a bit playful, and had a bit of a buck, but he did everything for me today and at this level, a split second can be the difference between winning and losing.”
Robert, who has now secured enough points in the western European league to qualify for the World Cup Final, paid tribute to the 11-year-old stallion bred by his father John.
“He’s been jumping fantastic,” he said. “He’s been a bit tense in this arena and I didn’t really get the jump-off I wanted but I’m very happy to be going to the final, and now we can take some time to prepare for that.”
Darragh was also crowned the leading rider of the show, with which he was delighted.
“I’ve come here two or three times before and won on the first and second day then done horrible,” he said. “This year, I did horrible the first day but it ended up quite well! This is an unbelievable crowd and it’s so much fun; it’s great to be able to put on a show for them.”
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