FARRINGTON AND ORAFINA CAN’T BE BEAT THE $75,000 ADEQUAN WEF CHALLENGE ROUND IX CSI5*

March 10, 2022

With only two CSI5* weeks remaining in the Winter Equestrian Festival 2022 season, the stage was set for the $75,000 Adequan WEF Challenge Round IX CSI5* Thursday. A competitive class of 51 entries, featuring 18 of the World’s top 50 FEI riders, took to the track designed by Ireland’s Alan Wade in the International Ring at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The course tested each combination with a total of 13 obstacles including eight oxers, a triple combination, and an open water with a time-allowed of 73 seconds in order to make it through to the jump-off. Ultimately, it was Kent Farrington and Orafina who bested the rest at the completion of the class.

The course proved to be a challenging one with only 10 of the 51 starting combinations making it to the jump-off. Farrington and Orafina started strong, going second in the order-of-go and jumping clear. The pair stood alone until their fellow United States duo Spencer Smith and Theodore Manciais completed the track just in the knick of time, guaranteeing a jump-off. Rounding out the first 15 trips of round one, back-to-back clear rides by Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya and Malibu De Muze and Canada’s Mario Deslauiers and Bardolina 2 deepend the jump-off playing field to four. The United States’ Adrianne Sternlicht, Jessica Springsteen, Lillie Keenan and Lucy Deslauriers, Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam, and Belgium’s Jos Verlooy put together clear rounds of their own aboard their respective mounts, finalizing the jump-off tally at ten.

With the track shortened to seven obstacles and a time-allowed of 49 seconds, nine of the qualifying 10 competitors returned to the ring for the second round of competition to compete for the top spot in the class. Farrington was the first to go aboard his own 10-year-old KWPN mare and successfully maneuvered the track without fault, setting the time to beat at a quick 33.41 seconds that would ultimately hold against their competitors.

Farrington, who is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard, racked up his second CSI5* win of the 2022 WEF season. With the win, the pair qualify to compete in the $406,000 Douglas Elliman Grand Prix CSI5* Saturday night, which will be their second CSI5* grand prix of 2022.

From the Winner’s Circle
On the plan:
“I’m really proud of this horse. It’s one that I’ve been bringing along for the last two seasons. I try to use Florida as a ‘spring training’ for my younger horses and she’s really stepping up. She jumped her first 5* Grand Prix [during Week 5 of WEF] and came back today and performed better than expected. Now we’ll aim for the grand prix [Saturday night] and see where that takes us.”

On Orafina’s program since taking second place in the $140,000 Southern Arches Grand Prix CSI3* during WEF I:
“It’s a long season. It’s been about building her up to get her under the lights in that type of environment, then dropping her back down into some smaller rounds to allow me to work on my ride ability and then going back up again. I think going back and forth between the levels is the best way to produce an upcoming horse here.”

Source: Phelps Sports