World order reflected with Kent Farrington and Greya’s Rolex Grand Prix win
There were multiple scenarios for who would win in the build up to the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF] finale of 2026, but in the end ranking played out with world number two Kent Farrington and Greya on top of the podium in the $1,000,000 Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix. To his right was world ranked number three Ben Maher and to his left in third place, world number four Richard Vogel.
“You never know if it’s perfect until the class is over, but I thought I put in a very competitive round,” said Kent of his first five-star win of the year with Greya, which also broke the seven-year drought for USA riders in the Rolex Grand Prix and added on to Kent and Greya’s illustrious partnership including 10 five-star grand prix victories. “It’s always great to win at home.Wellington has become an equestrian community. They get a great local crowd that comes out here and cheers for all of us, but particularly the American riders, so it’s exciting to win here at home.”
The caliber of the five rider-horse combinations in the jump off was testament to the challenge of the course designed by Brazil’s Guilherme Jorge. Ben – post-clear round with Enjeu de Grisien and pre-jump off – summed it up when he said: “It was always going to be hard. There are no free jumps out here tonight.”
Germany’s Christian Kukuk and Checker 47’s storyline of a third win in a row in this Rolex Grand Prix at Wellington International came to an end with a calamity at the wall. The second jump on the course, it proved to be the nemesis for more than one contestant in the opening round, and a minor puzzle challenge for the jump crew in rebuilding it with the top row of tiles listing all the venues of the Rolex Series worldwide.
Just five in the jump off – but not just any five with Ireland, Britain, Germany and the USA represented – Kent and Greya pulled their win out of the bag in the middle of the pack. It was one of only two jump off clears – the first being Ben’s in 43.72, which Kent shaved down to 42.99 seconds.
“It’s always hard to go first when you have these guys after,” said Ben after the podium presentation. “Kent’s always there, and he’s always fast, but I’m proud of my horse. I’m happy and disappointed at the same time.”
Prompted to elaborate on 12-year-old Oldenburg mare Greya’s prowess Kent said: “You have some good horses, maybe even some great horses, and then you have horses that are an outlier athlete, like I believe she is. She can do everything. She’s fast, she’s careful, she’s scopey, she’s rideable, she’s an incredible horse.”
Six of the world top ten riders were in the class – not including world number one Scott Brash – and three of the top four graced the podium in their world order. Richard and Gangster Mondesir, who finished in the fastest time of 42.87 seconds, but with a rail to their detriment, was magnanimous in defeat.
“That’s why our sport is so exciting – it’s only over when it’s over,” he said. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t great riding to the last fence. I should have done one less stride. Gangster was right there with me, and I’m super proud of how he performed and how he jumped.
“From the start, he answered all the questions. Every show he went to, he delivered, and he always tried his best. We have very high hopes for him. He could not have done anything better today.”
A packed crowd of some 10,000 spectators – “one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen,” Ben commented – proved the $1million prize pot was a draw for the fans as well as the newly-arrived international competitors popping up on the start lists for this final week of the WEF.
“The best riders come out [for these events],” said WEF regular Kent. “So we always have the highest level of sport, great prize money, and the prestige of a Rolex event puts us on the map.”
This could be interesting: