Kent Farrington Shines in the €510,000 IJRC Rolex Top 10 Final CSI 5*

By Jumper News USA on December 16, 2024

Geneva, Switzerland– December 13, 2024 – The 23rd Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final at CHI Geneva featured a very worthy starting field of the top ten riders in the world! Both McLain Ward (USA) and Kent Farrington (USA) represented the red, white and blue at the prestigious contest on Friday.

First Round

It is never easy to be the first to open such a competition. Martin Fuchs (SUI), who was called into the Top Ten Final at short notice after world number 10 Conor Swail was unable to compete, decided to take up the challenge and gave the crowd a perfect first round. The bar was set. McLain Ward (USA) and Ilex jumped clear to qualify too, being soon joined by two-time final winner Kent Farrington (USA) and Toulayna.

Second Round

With the start in reverse order of the classification, the second heat was even more exciting and came to a head as the six clear riders from the first heat crossed the finish line. Point Break, Ben Maher’s (GBR) ten-year-old gelding, confirmed this by taking the lead with a time of 48.59. But he hadn’t reckoned with the incredible partnership of Martin Fuchs (SUI) and Leone Jei, who smashed the target time to 47.02 seconds.

**Kent Farrington** (USA) & **Toulayna**

Would the Swiss, who had won the Trophée de Genève with Conner Jei the day before, win for the second time in two days? But first he had to face some tough competition with the same goal. Kent Farrington (USA) brought the crowd to its feet, but was not fast enough, timed 48.05 seconds. McLain Ward (USA) had one down with Ilex at the final fence.

That left the winning duo of 2022: the Swede and his King Edward. But even they were not successful… Martin’s dream had come true and he could add his name to the list of winners of this unique final for the first time being closely followed by Kent Farrington (USA).