‘Difficult time’ concludes with five-star victory for Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue
Darragh Kenny embraced his win in the CSI5* $500,000 Grand Prix aboard Eddy Blue at the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF] with emotion. “Winning tonight was quite big,” he said.
Darragh underwent an FEI suspension under the human anti-doping rules relating to prescribed treatment for a medical condition and returned to competition at WEF last month.
“This has been quite a difficult time for me over the last six months,” he said. “Not being able to compete with my horses. It was very difficult. It was something that really was hard to deal with and hard to manage. To have them all feeling this good and jumping the way they are…”
Darragh and Eddy Blue’s Saturday Night Lights victory was their first Grand Prix win at the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF] and they accomplished it – ahead of a field that featured six of the top 10 showjumpers worldwide – with a jump off time of 41.77 seconds.
“He’s been second and third here [at WEF] and placed in a lot of five-stars, but to finally win one here is really deserving for the horse – he’s an incredible athlete,” said Kenny of Eddy Blue. “He tries so hard every time he goes in the ring, and I am really proud of him and how he competed tonight.”
It was also a big night for Australia’s Thaisa Erwin, who finished joint second – in itself a rarified jump off situation – being the first rider from her nation to grace the WEF podium since 2010. She shared the runners up position with Marilyn Little, first to go in the jump off with La Contessa, in a time of 41.92 seconds that Thaisa and Hialita B matched perfectly.
“I thought it must have been an error,” Thaisa said when she saw the time on the scoreboard. “I was hoping it must have been an error,” she joked. Hialita B and Thaisa’s performance was another reward for owners Michael and Wendy Smith, whose horses High Star Hero and Jordan Molga M have headlined at the last two Saturday Night classes, winning the five-star Grand Prix and then the Nations Cup with McLain Ward.
Thaisa has been partnered with Hialita B for several years and built a special bond. “She’s taught me a ton of patience because you need that to be around her,” she said of the chestnut mare. “But she just gives me her all every time, and I think we’ve been together now three and a half years, and the relationship just shows itself. So, I have full trust in her, and I think she trusts me to be there for her.”
Marilyn, secured the first clear of the night in the opening round going fifteenth in the order of go. First to go in the jump off she was the trailfinder and her second place finish, had accomplished a season objective. “My goal for the season was to position Tessa as a competitor at the five-star level and show what she can do,” said Marilyn. “She is new to the level and I wanted to show what she could do at a five-star here.”
Darragh’s victory came on the back of a team of supporters. He wanted to thank them for ensuring that his absence from competition did not impact his horses – and his compatriot Bertram Allen had a major hand in that. “I was very very lucky that a very good friend of mine, Bertram Allen showed the horses for a few weeks to get them up and running, and he’s done a great job… ” Darragh said. “I’m really proud of my team – the team at the barn, everybody involved in Oakland [Stables]. They’ve really stepped up in a difficult time and the horses came on jumping brilliant.”
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High Star Hero wins the night for McLain Ward and Michael Smith