Farrington wins at Hickstead

By Staff Report July 31, 2011

It’s been a long time since anyone’s taken the King’s Cup from British soil, but Kent Farrington is bringing it back to the U.S. after a spectacular victory aboard Uceko earned him the title winner of the Longines King George V Gold Cup.

The Sunday contest took place at the Royal International Horse Show in Hickstead, England. The U.K. put up a fight, with Brit Robert Smith – who’d won the event on three prior occasions – taking second on the 11-year-old stallion Talan.

Riding the 10-year-old KWPN gelding, Farrington triumphed over a field of 47. That was eventually narrowed down to a 10-rider jump-off that had the crowd cheering and gasping as the final fence, the imposing Hickstead planks, caught-out rider after rider. Farrington’s very fast 54.36 seconds jump-off time squeezed earned him a 0.5second margin over Smith, landing the win on his first-ever trip to the West Sussex venue. (Smith and Talan were also second last year.)

Ironically, Farrington purchased his grey horse from Leon Thijssen of the Netherlands, who took third-place in the contest on Tyson.

“When I saw the first rider go clear, I knew we would have to be fast,” he told Horse & Country’s Jenny Rudall in a video interview. The 30-year-old New York native who currently splits his time between Wellington, Florida, and Greenwich, Connecticut, said the victory felt “pretty incredible.”

Lauren Hough was the next highest-placed U.S. rider, taking 11^th on Quick Study. Beezie Madden and Coral Reef Vio Volo took 13^th. (For a results list, click here.)

Farrington makes his debut as a U.S. Nation’s Cup team rider on this tour. In team competition the U.S. came in third, counting four faults each from Farrington and Madden along with a clear from Christine McCrea and Romantovich Take One that negated Laura Kraut’s 12 faults with Teirra.

Germany won, and France came in second. For the FEI report on the Nation’s Cup team winners, along with results, click here.

The next stop on the Nation Cup series is Dublin, Ireland, August 3-7, 2011.

The Nation’s Cup tour continues in Dublin next week.

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