QUICK RESULTS
1. McLain Ward - HH Azur
2. Kent Farrington - Gazelle
3. Lucy Deslauriers - Hester
There were eight that found the key to a clear round to advance to the jump-off. The pathfinder was David Blake of Ireland riding Pine Hollow Farm’s Keoki. They set the pace at 44.36 seconds with a steady clear round, which would keep them in fifth place at the conclusion of the class.
The winning time was lowered with the next horse, H5 Quintol, owned by H5 Stables and ridden by Eduardo Menezes (BRA). They sped through and despite a hard rub at the second to last vertical, stayed clear in 39.69 seconds. They would finish in fourth place.
Next in was 19-year-old Lucy Deslauriers (USA) riding Lisa Deslauriers’ Hester. With an impressive early rollback to the Adequan vertical and a quick pace through the remainder of the jump-off, they shaved four-tenths of a second off the leading time to finish in 39.25 seconds for third place.
While Deslauriers has won a five-star class before, she noted, “Unquestionably, this is one of the top, if not the top, moment. I think not only as prestigious as this class is, but to be sitting next to these two (McLain Ward and Kent Farrington) for sure.”
To the delight of the crowd, the rounds kept getting faster and faster. Rolex testimonee Kent Farrington (USA) and Gazelle, owned by Farrington and Robin Parsky, started off with a blazing gallop and never let up, streaming through the timers in 37.82 seconds. They would have to wait for the remaining four entries to see if their time would hold up.
“[McLain and I are] great competitors, and we’re friends. I know if he’s coming at the end of the class, it’s going to take everything usually to win,” said Farrington. “He’s on one of his best horses and it’s one of the best horses in the world. I tried to go as fast as I could go without being completely reckless. [Azur] has a bigger stride, so I thought on my rollbacks, I did the maximum that that horse could do. I think today’s jump-off suited a bigger-strided horse, but it was very close at the end. He had a tremendous round. I think it was an unbelievable effort from him and his horse. Unfortunately, we ended up second today.”
Final Results: $500,000 Rolex Grand Prix CSI 5*
1 HH AZUR: 2006 Belgian Sport Horse mare by Thunder van de Zuuthoeve x Sir Lui
MCLAIN WARD (USA), Double H Farm, McLain Ward, François Mathy: 0/0/37.42
2 GAZELLE: 2006 Belgian Warmblood mare by Kashmir van Schuttershof x Indoctro
KENT FARRINGTON (USA), Kent Farrington & Robin Parsky: 0/0/37.82
3 HESTER: 2005 Belgian Warmblood gelding (Wandor van de Mispelaere x Palestro vd Begijnakker)
LUCY DESLAURIERS (USA), Lisa Deslauriers: 0/0/39.25
4 H5 QUINTOL: 2005 Oldenburg gelding by Quintender x Cento
EDUARDO MENEZES (BRA), Eduardo Menezes: 0/0/39.69
5 KEOKI: 2009 Holsteiner gelding by Catoki x Cassini I
DAVID BLAKE (IRL), Pine Hollow Farm: 0/0/44.36
6 LADRIANO Z: 2008 Zangersheide gelding by Lawito x Baloubet du Rouet
DANIEL BLUMAN (ISR), Over the Top Stables LLC: 0/4/39.09
7 VELINI: 2006 AES gelding by Cheers Cassini x Kigali
RODRIGO LAMBRE (BRA), Mario Oñate B.: 0/4/40.15
8 CONFU: 2007 Holsteiner gelding by Contact Me x Cambridge
LAURA KRAUT (USA), St. Bride’s Farm: 0/EL
9 CHARMEUR: 2007 KWPN gelding by Numero Uno x Gelha’s VDL Emilion
SERGIO ALVAREZ MOYA (ESP), Alvarez Moya Horse SL: 4/77.69
10 INDRA VAN DE OUDE HEIHOEF: 2008 Belgian Warmblood mare by Casantos x Action-Breaker
SHANE SWEETNAM (IRL), The Blue Buckle Group: 4/77.75
11 LUCIFER V: 2006 Westphalian gelding by Lord Dezi x Grandeur
NAYEL NASSAR (EGY), Evergate Stables LLC: 4/77.93
12 CHACCO KID: 2006 Oldenburg by Chacco Blue x Come On
ERIC LAMAZE (CAN), Chacco Kid Group: 4/78.83