Kent wins with Voyeur…

Chicago-native Kent Farrington beat the field of 18 riders in the $50,000 Weston Canadian Open tonight at the Royal Horse Show, producing one of just five clean rounds of the night riding his very own Voyeur.

Michel Vaillancourt set a difficult course which included three double combinations.

The top five were clean and fast. “The rounds here are always competitive,” said Kent. “Even though there are not a lot of horses, the ones that are in the classes are always top horses with very, very good riders. It’s going to take a good round to win any class at this show. When I walked the course I walked a pretty aggressive path. I wasn’t sure it would win, but I thought if it went well, for sure I’d be top three.”

Lauren Hough landed in second. Miss Hough has been on fire lately and will no doubt be one to watch tonight in tonight’s Ricoh Big Ben Challenge Grand Prix with her amazing Quick Study.

Our very own “Captain Canada” was first on course, and the result was not ideal; Star Power pulled a handful of rails and had a time fault, finishing on a score of 66.99 seconds and 21 faults.

Nonetheless, Ian who is fresh off his honor in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, was awarded the Whitaker Award this evening, as the highest placed Canadian rider on the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) Rolex Rankings list competing at the Royal this week.

$50,000 Weston Canadian Open

1. Kent Farrington / Wellington, FL / Voyeur / 0 : 58.62
2. Lauren Hough / Wellington, FL / OhLaLa / 0 : 59.49
3. Yann Candele / Caledon, ON / Game Ready / 0 : 62.14
4. Reed Kessler / Lexington, KY / Mika / 0 : 65.50
5. Ainsley Vince / Burlington, ON / Frieda / 0 : 65.54

Who’s at the Royal…

Well before Brianne Goutal gets to telling us how everything is going across the Atlantic, perhaps we should look and see who made the trip to one of Canada’s most well-known and popular horse shows. The 90^th Royal Horse Show looks to host a great variety of international riders. They will compete this week in afternoon and evening competitions including the $100,000 Hickstead FEI World Cup Grand Prix today, the $50,000 Weston Canadian Open on Friday and the $75,000 Ricoh Big Ben Challenge on Saturday.

The riders who are representing our home squad are ten-time Olympian Ian Millar (Perth, ON), three-time back-to-back Canadian showjumping champion Yann Candele (Caledon, ON), Olympian Jill Henselwood (Oxford Mills, ON), Olympian and Rolex One-to-Watch Mac Cone (King, ON), past Canadian champion Ainsley Vince (Burlington, ON), Angela Covert (St. Lazare, QC) and two riders who jumped their way into the big-money week via the Greenhawk Canadian showjumping championships: Isabelle Lapierre (Breakeyville, QC) and Neil Badcock (King City, ON).

The American teams from South of the border are always weighted with talent and this year will be no exception. In addition to the lovely Brianne Goutal who just arrived in Toronto, riders who will be fashioning red, white and blue are two-time Olympic team gold medalist McLain Ward (Brewster, NY) and Olympic team gold medalist Laura Kraut (Wellington, FL). Kent Farrington (Chicago, IL) is also in Toronto and will certainly be someone to watch out for, Kent is known for his speed and if he has “Little Grey” with him then he will surely be in the top 5. Regular rock star Olympian Reed Kessler (Armonk, NY) and rising star Jessica Springsteen will be making their debuts in Toronto this week for both ladies have never been to the Royal Winter Fair before.

Additional international riders include 2002 World Champion Dermott Lennon of Ireland, fellow Irish riders Conor Swail who just left us in Lyon, Richie Moloney and Shane Sweetnam, and Belgium’s twin brothers Nicola and Olivier Philippaerts. We all remember this fall in Calgary, when Olivier won the $1,000,000 CN International Grand Prix with Cabrio… that was one great day!! London Olympian Daniel Bluman will also be a consistent feature in the International ring this week.