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Posted April 30, 2006 USA’s Kent Farrington and Madison Stay the Course for Win in KL Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The Saturday night feature at the World Cup Jumping Final featured many of the top riders in the world and had 22 entries. The course set by Frank Rothenberger of Germany was a Table A, FEI Art. 238.2.2 competition with one jump-off and a maximum height of 1.60m. The trailblazers in the first round and the jump-off were Kent Farrington and Madison, a 10 year old bay Dutch warmblood mare owned by Bill Weeks. As the eighth horse in the ring, they set off a loud roar from the crowd when they cleared the first round without fault. When they returned for the jump-off, Farrington urged Madison into a steady gallop from the start. She kept her prim form over the jumps and made two hairpin turns in the long jump-off course that included nine obstacles. The last two were in a bending line with eight strides between them and Farrington kept Madison slightly in check in order to keep all of the jumps up. The crowd reacted superbly once again, cheering for the young pair as they crossed the timers in 39.51 seconds. “I had seen some of these horses go earlier in the week in the speed class, so I knew they were fast. My plan was just to do my normal speed and lay down a fast trip,” Farrington revealed. “I would risk maybe having a rail, but I wanted to try and set down a quick time.” Farrington could not rest easy, however, with five following him in the jump-off. Next in was Mikael Forsten of Finland and Melansa. A tight turn left a rail on the ground for the Finnish rider, and he slowed considerably after the rail in order to leave the ring with just four faults in a time of 41.50 seconds. One of Farrington’s biggest threats was Norwegian Geir Gulliksen and Clear Round’s Than Party. The typey bay mare has a quick stride and an astounding hind end. Gulliksen was close to Farrington, but just off the pace with a clear round in 40.12 seconds. “I saw his (Kent’s) round, and it was very fast,” Gulliksen conceded. “He took risks, but I thought my horse could beat it. She’s a very fast horse. Kent did seven from one to two, but I did eight because of the turn back after it. I had one stride too many going to that. It was close, it was half a second you know, and I thought I was going to be closer.” Gulliksen has ridden the awkwardly monikered horse for four years and has come to rely on her for certain classes at some of the best shows in the world. “She’s a very good horse. She’s really my second horse and does 1.50m and regular grand prix. She’s a super competitive horse and wins classes everywhere. She was second in Gothenberg. She’s unbelievably careful and wants to do it.” USA West Coast competitor and representative of Iran, Ali Nilforushan, cantered easily into the ring next with Cellist, a gigantic grey gelding. While he may have the large stride to make up time, Cellist could not duplicate the turns that Madison achieved. Nilforushan did have a second clear round, but in a time of 44.10 seconds. Rezonanz, a very quick bay gelding ridden by Vladimir Beletskiy of Russia, came in next. They made good turns at a fast pace, but came through the timers well behind Farrington in 39.51 seconds. Only one rider remained between Farrington and his first overseas victory, and it was show jumping veteran Juan Carlos Garcia of Italy and Markgraaf. The large chestnut gelding’s twisting style helped him go clear in the first round, but it did not last for a second trip. The pair had the third fence down and finished with four faults and a time of 42.11 seconds. After the class, Gulliksen was mournful of what slipped though his fingers. “I was second and did everything I could. The horse did everything and jumped fantastic. Second is also good, but it’s not the same as winning, I must admit,” he said with a smile. After a disappointing start to the week, Farrington was very happy to have his usual reliable mount again. After the extremely long trip to the other side of the world, Madison “wasn’t feeling right and wasn’t herself,” Farrington said. Because of that, Farrington withdrew from the World Cup competition on Friday and decided to see if Madison would fare well in Saturday’s grand prix. “I gave her an easy flat and let her tell us when she was ready,” he commented. “She felt better today; a lot closer to her normal self. She’s not maybe 100 percent, but a lot better.” Farrington had praise for the first World Cup Jumping Final held in Asia and for Saturday’s class. “I thought it worked out just perfect for the class,” he said. “It was a fast jump-off. She’s naturally really fast by herself. I took a couple shots early on, and then towards the end there were pretty much set numbers. I did eight strides at the end, but I think you either won or lost by the time you got there.” “It’s nice to leave on a high note. Obviously, I much rather would have been in the hunt, but that wasn’t in the cards. It was great to win before we left. I wanted to make sure my horse felt good, to be honest. I wasn’t thinking too much about the competition, but wanted to make sure she felt right,” he added. One of the highlights in the first round of competition was Malaysia’s representative rider, Syed Omar Abu Bakar Almohdzar, jumping a nearly perfect first round trip. As he and Lui 24 cleared each fence, the fever pitch rose in the stadium. Almohdzar was clear through the tricky triple combination and the tight two stride. As they galloped down to the final oxer, most of the spectators were screaming. The noise was so loud that when he pulled down the last rail, he did not even know it. “When I went around, I didn’t hear the pole fall. I thought I was clear. Then I saw my friend’s face in the crowd, and I knew something was wrong,” Almohdzar said ruefully. The young Malaysian rider has only ridden professionally for three years since finishing school, but has made the most of his time, including working for a year with German superstar Ludger Beerbaum. He now rides out of Belgium and makes it home to Malaysia for two months out of the year, “if he’s lucky.” The pressure was on the young rider’s shoulders as the sole participant from Malaysia. “It’s been really difficult because if I do well at a show in Europe, I get one little article, and it doesn’t matter so much. But this show means so much, and it’s everywhere,” he remarked. In order to compete in the Final, Almohdzar had to compete in the Western European World Cup League qualifying events, in which he also had to qualify. “I managed to qualify three times in Leipzig, Vigo, and s’Hertogenbosch,” he explained. He added with a laugh, “In Europe, I go in the ring and they go silent because they are afraid of me crashing! It was an amazing feeling to ride here with people cheering behind you.” Almohdzar has only had Lui for one year, and although he had the goal of finishing in the top fifteen for the World Cup Final, he pointed out that Lui was “not exactly in his best form.” The former farmer’s horse has shown that he might have what it takes to compete at the top level of the sport. “He’s a very, very good horse. He needs one more year, and he’ll be a fantastic horse. He’s only shown indoors three times in his life. I don’t have much experience indoors at big shows. It’s a big mountain to climb,” he confided. “I’m glad we finished nicely.” This week marked Farrington’s first international event as a representative for the United States and stated that he had “a lot of fun.” He went on to say, “It was a nice size ring and great footing, an excellent course designer and fantastic riders. It was a great event. I’d come to watch the World Cup event a few times, with the Maxine Beard Award from the USEF and a couple times on my own, so I knew the format really well. I was anxious and excited to compete.” With this decisive win abroad, Farrington has shown that he is one of the America’s up and coming grand prix riders and can compete with the best in the world. The 2006 FEI World Cup Jumping Final will conclude on Sunday afternoon with one round and a jump-off if needed. It will be a fight to the finish between the world’s best riders and an exciting end to the debut World Cup Final in Asia. Official Results: KL Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
PHOTO CREDIT: Madison and Kent Farrington, winners of the KL Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo © Ken Braddick/HorseSport USA. |
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Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia – April 29, 2006 – It was a vindicating
story tonight for the USA team’s youngest representative at the
2006 FEI World Cup Jumping Final. Kent Farrington and the incredible
mare Madison set an unbeatable pace and captured the win in the KL Grand
Prix over five other combinations in the jump-off. 
