WELLINGTON, Fla.--Darragh Kenny of Ireland on Volnay de Boisdeville won the CHF140,000 ($151,000) CSI3* Grand Prix on Saturday, Jan. 14 at the Witer Equestrian Festival.
Apparently, the FEI has requested that the prize money at WEF be announced in Swiss Francs during the first half of the season, so The Horse will continue to enter the approximate amount in U.S. dollars in parentheses.
Wellington is suffering under unseasonably cold weather during the second week in January.
A course designed by Nick Granat produced six clear rounds representing four different countries.
The trailblazer in the first round, Kenny again set the pace in the jump-off with a blistering clear round in 37. 58 seconds, and the five challengers to follow all had rails.
“He’s an incredible horse and he’s better when he’s fresh,” said Kenny. “The cold weather was a good factor for us tonight because it had him a little fresher than normal."
“You can trust him at the jumps and he’s very fast in jump-offs,” said Kenny. “I knew it was a competitive jump-off, so I just tried to go as quick as I could and hope that the jumps stayed up.”
THE LAST to jump over the short course, Carly Anthony on Jet Blue was second, and Olympic team gold medalist Laura Kraut was third on Dorado 212 in the horse’s debut in the international grand prix ranks.
Heather Caristo-Williams on Dionysos de al Vigne was fourth, and Mark Bluman (of Columbia on Cheilane de Blonde was fifth.
“It was a magic night in the end,” said Kenny, whose owner Teddy Vlock celebrated a birthday while watching his horse bring home a CSI3* victory. “He loves this horse, and he picked a fantastic night to win.”
“He’s really simple," said Kenny of Volnay de Boisdevile. "He’ a stallion but not a stallion at all.”
The $500 Grooms Award went to Vlock Show Stables groom Alejandro Suarez.
“We are really happy to do this for the second year in a row; the grooms are an integral part of the whole operation,” said Quentin Judge on behalf of Double H Farm. “We wouldn’t be able to be here if it wasn’t for the grooms, and we think it’s important to recognize them. It’s a hard job and it’s nice when your horse jumps well to recognize them for it.”
Mimi Gochman, 18 of New York, N.Y., on Cosmos BH won the $30,000 National Grand Prix.
From a starting field of 40, five riders, Laura Chapot, Alison Robitaille, Mario Deslauriers of Canada, Rebecca Conway and the eventual winner, Gochman, were clean to make it to the jump-off..
Gochman was clean in 33.955 seconds, with Conway and Kiss-Kiss van het Endhouse placing second place in 37.062 seconds, and Deslauriers was third in 37.559 seconds.
“I got him at the end of WEF last year and we are starting to jump a bit bigger,” said Gochman of Cosmos BH. “Going into the jump-off, I completely trusted him. He’s got scope and stride and he’s game. I knew one to two was a six because I had just watched Mario do it, so there was a question there, but I did six and then it was rollback tight to a vertical and I got on the inside corner. I ran over into the green across the middle, and I love jumps like that; you just run over to the gap and they take care of it.”
“I always knew he had talent and stride and scope but he’s going to be amazing," said Gochman. "He’s one of those stallions that stands proud.”
“He’s going to do the U25 up to week four, and then hopefully towards the end of WEF he’ll start to dabble in some three stars,” said Gochman.