WELLINGTON, Fla.--Darragh Kenny of Ireland on Volnay Du Boisdeville won the $216,000 Grand Prix CSI4* on Sunday, March 27 at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
Darragh Kenny on Volnay Du Boisdeville (Photo by Sportfot0Forty-four had qualified for the Grand Prix, and nine went clean over Olaf Petersen's course.
Sweden’s Petronella Andersson was the first in the jump-off and was clean in 40.66 seconds, which would end up fourth.
Kenny was second into the arena, and he shaved a second off of Andersson’s time, to go into the lead with a time of 39.43 seconds which held up for the win.
“He is just naturally very fast even though he doesn’t have the biggest stride,” said Kenny. “I even did nine strides to the last fence where most people did eight, but it was still fast enough because he doesn’t waste time in the air and gets across the ground fast.”
It was Kenny’s second win on the Selle Francais stallion, having won the $75,000 1.50m Classic CSI4* the week before.
“I DIDN'T get here till halfway through the season, so I am really just getting started,” said Kenny. “My plan was just to get the horses built up, and they have responded well so now I feel like I have them in a very good place going into my program for the summer circuit.”
Mark McAuley of Ireland was second, just hundreds of a second behind Kenny in 39.52 seconds on Jasco VD Bisschop.
“The first round course was particularly long today, and the middle line was certainly a rider’s line that, if you did not execute it perfectly, was going to leave you with a fault,” said McAuley. “The plank at the end of the course was more of a horse’s jump that they had to figure out how to get out of, so there were certainly enough challenges.”
“When you can manage to get your horses consistent at this level, then hopefully the wins are going to come,” said McAuley. “I haven’t quite gotten there the past few weeks, but I believe it’s going to come and I’m very happy with the consistency of this horse in particular. One of the best things about the circuit has been competing every week with such good riders at a high level. It has been very good for my riding because you have to be on the ball every time or you are not going to place.”
Daniel Bluman, riding for Israel on Ubiluc was third, clean in 40.43 seconds.
“In a jump-off like this where there are a lot of fast riders, you just have to ride the best possible plan for your particular horse,” described Bluman. “At the end of the day, with this incredible group of horses and riders, it all comes down to how fast your horse can move his feet or you may have to start taking some risks that are perhaps not worth it. I’m very happy with the result today.”
