FORT WORTH, Texas--Kent Farrington on Greya won Round two of the World Cup Final on Friday evening, April 10 after winning Round one on Toulayna to go into Sunday's final with zero faults.

Kent Farrington on Greya (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)Farrington won in a seven-horse jump off, going clean and finishing in 34.36 seconds.

Eiken Sato of Japan on Chadellano JRA was second, clean in 34.90, and Kevin Staut of France on Visconti du Telman was third, clean in 35.79.

Going into Sunday's two round final, Farrington is on zero penalties with a rail in hand over Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, who will start with four faults,

Staut will start with six faults, and Saro will start with 7 faults.

“I think I came with a faster horse today, which makes it easier,” said Farrington. “I’ve been really thinking about Sunday and wanted to measure her efforts and measure her speed to put myself in the best position possible. Hopefully we have some luck for the Final here on Sunday.”

 “She’s jumped indoors before, so she has some experience," said Farrington. "She’s 12 years old now, so when you look at coming from outside to inside, it’s not the easiest, but they both are exceptional horses, and when you have great athletes like this with experience, you’re able to do things like that. The venue will matter less with age because they’ll really know the sport and the game.” 

 

KATIE DINAN on Out of the Blue SCF,  was the only other U.S. rider to qualify for the jump-off, but she had eight faults to finish seventh overall.

Elken Sato on Chadeliano JRA (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photograph)The U.S. has five riders in the top 10, with Dinan tied for eighth with Jacob Pope on Highway FBH, and they will start Sunday with nine faults each.

Aaron Vale on Carissimo 25 and Lillie Keenan on Kick On are tied for 10th and will start Sunday with 10 faults each.

Time played a big factor in Saturday’s first round, with 20 percent of the field of 35 incurring time penalties.

It wasn’t until the 11th rider that the first clear round came with Norway’s Oda Charlotte Lyngvaer on Carabella vd Neyen Zm whois competing in her World Cup Finals debut.

It was another 11 riders until Sato, another first-timer, guaranteed a jump-off, with Dinan and Rene Dittmer of Germany immediately replicating the feat.

The final 10 riders had three additional riders add their names to the jump-off list, with Staut, Steve Guerdat and Farrington going clean.

When Lyngvaer and Sato both jumped clear again in the jump-off, it appeared as if the pace would get furiously quick, but these early riders put enough pressure on the rest of the field, as did the pressure of Farrington at the end of the start list, that rails fell for Dinan, Dittmer, and Guerdat.

Then Staut, twice third overall in this Final, including last year in Basel, Switzerland, opted for a more conservative plan.

Kevin Staut on Visconti du Telman (Pjhoto by Sarah Millr for MacMillan Photography)“I have a 17-year-old mare. She’s jumping wonderfully, but she’s not that fast, honestly,” he said. “There were some riders that had some faults in the jump-off, so I just went in trying to do a normal round.”

That left Farrington with a simple advantage: footspeed.

“I think I came with a faster horse, so that made it much easier,” he said. “I just rode her normal round, and her normal round tonight I thought would be fast enough to win the class.”

“I’m very happy with second place today. Next to me is one of the fastest riders in the world (Farrington), and my horse is jumping really, really well,” said Sato, whose merits on the Western European League earned him a ticket to Fort Worth after he moved to Europe from his home nation of Japan. “I’m very happy to be here and to get in through the Western European League, so I’m proud of myself.”

Farrington brought two talented mares to these Finals, but Greya stands out among the rest.

Kent Farrington on Greya (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)The 12-year-old mare has won a remarkable 10 Grand Prix events at the highest level of sport, including a record-breaking seven in 2025 alone; Farrington has produced her since her 7-year-old season.

“I always have high hopes for my horses. I think you need to have a lot of imagination, and you have to keep high hopes for all your young horses that they’re going to make it [at the top level of the sport],” Farrington said. “I just try to let the horses decide what they’re going to do and do the best job that I can to produce them to the best of my ability and see where it lands us.

“That’s really the beauty of our sport, is building a rapport with a horse and, through time and training, a real bond with a horse,” he said. “Sometimes they surprise me with what they can do.”

The World Cup Final concludes Sunday, April 12 with the Third Final Competition.

The top 30 riders following Friday’s second round advance to this final two-round competition, which begins at 12 p.m. CST,which is 1 p.m. Eastern.