WELLINGTON, Fla.-Arturo Parada Vallejo of Mexico on Fellow van't Moerven won the $200,000 CSIO4* Grand Prix on Sunday, March 2 at the Winter Equestrian Festival, while Kent Farrington on Toulayna won the $200,000, 1.55m Grand Prix on Saturday evening, March 1 at the World Equestrian Festival in Ocala.

Kent Farrington on Toulayna in a file photo from WEF (Photo by Sportfot)Parada won in a four horse jump-off, while Farrington won in a three horse jump-off.

If you got to choose a jump-off between just three riders, you couldn't find one much better than the jump-off in Ocala.

That jump-off was between Richie Vogel on Event De L'heribus, McLain Ward on High Star Hero and Farrington on Toulayna,

Vogel went first and in an effort to lay down such a speedy round that the others couldn't catch, he finished in 45.24 but had two rails down.

Ward went next and, riding a relatively new horse, made terrific turns but didn't rush High Star Hero too much and finished clean in 49.74.

Going last on the very fast Toulayna, Farrington finished clean in 47.21 for the win.

Also in Ocala, Phillip Mcguane of Ireland on Linguini De La Pomme won the $65,000 CSI2* Grand Prix, clean in 38.07, with Lucy Deslaurier on Starlet second, clean in 39.27, and Luis Biraben of Argentina on Georgina De Carles third, clean in 40.37.

 

AT WEF, there was an exceptional result in the $50,000, 1.50m National Grand Prix, as  15-year-old beat four top Olympians.

Arturo Parada Vallejo on Fellow vant Moerven (Photo by Sportfot)J.J. Torano on Vitus K went fifth in the six horse jump-off and was clean in 34.533.

Bertram Allen of Ireland on Kingston went last but even that advantage didn't help him as he finished clean in 35.300 to place second.

Laura Kraut on Una Mariposa was third, clean in 36.167, with Karl Cook on Home Run fourth, clean in 36,752, and Jessie Springsteen on Cayman De Poteau Z sixth, clean in 38.539.

Torano won the Medal Finals in Harrisburg last fall as the youngest rider ever to win that championship, edging out George Morris, who had previously been the youngest.

This was Torano's second win in a National Grand Prix at WEF.

Due to his age, Torano is not eligible to compete in FEI classes.

In the WEF Grand Prix on Sunday, Parada was the only one clean in the jump-off over Nick Granat and Steve Stephens’ course.

Second to go in the four horse jump-off, Parada finished clean in 40.41.

“My plan is always the same: go as fast as I can,” Parada said, considering he was second of four to jump, so he wasn’t sure how much it would take to win. “Since I know Fellow is a big horse with a big stride, I tried to do one less in every line.”

Both of the final riders were indeed faster, but each had a rail down, finishing on fast four fault scores.

Mark Bluman of Columbia placed second on S&L Maracana', four faults in 39.43, and Charlie Jones of Great Britain was third on Capitale 6, four faults in 39.72.

“Winning any grand prix is really nice, but this is especially nice, but this is great because it’s a top start list of riders,” Parada said. “The course was not built to be an easy win, and giving a win to Mexico outside of Mexico is always really special so I’m really emotional.”

Lillie Keenan won the Martha Jolicoeur, Douglas Elliman Leading Lady Rider for her performances in international classes for the week.

Cian O’Connor was awarded the Niall Grimes “Cheers” Perpetual Trophy as the top money-earning Irish competitor during CSIO week at WEF.