Kent Farrington (USA) and Creedance secured the win in the $35,000 1.50m Horseware Ireland Welcome Stake CSI 3* at Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC) as part of Equus Events Tryon Fall 3 CSI 3* competition. Farrington flew through the jump-off in tandem with Creedance, a 2007 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Lord Z x Notaris) owned by himself and R.C.G. Farm, and stopped the timers in 35.942 seconds to top the class.

Vanessa Mannix (CAN) rode into second place with her own Catinka 25, a 2009 Oldenburg mare (Catoki x Luxano) and acquired a jump-off time of 37.761 seconds and Spencer Brittan (USA) took third with his own Uncle Blue, a 2008 Swedish Warmblood gelding (Chacco-Blue x Robin Z), stopping the timers in 39.258 seconds.

Among 47 entries and only eight pairs returning to test the short course set by course designer Michel Vaillancourt (CAN), Farrington and Creedance put in an untouchable performance to land at the top of the order. "My horse is naturally very fast, so for us, a good strategy is just kind of keeping his natural speed, and that's usually good enough to win. He's a top horse; he's won big Grand Prixs all over the world." Concerning the morning's cooler temperature, Farrington commented, "He [Creedance] likes the cool weather. I think all horses like it. They prefer it a little bit colder; they have more energy and are more excited to jump."

Farrington suffered a leg injury last winter, but bounced back from the fracture in three months. "I've been back for a while. Exactly 12 weeks later, I was already showing 5* Grand Prix's, so it really didn't slow me down that much. It gave my horses a little more rest than usual, but since then it's been business as usual."

The Olympian recently competed in Europe for a successful summer circuit, but is now stateside to continue touring. "I just got back from Europe myself, so this is a good way to kick off our tour here," he said of returning to compete at TIEC. Farrington plans to ride another of his well-known mounts, Gazelle, in Saturday night's $132,000 Adequan® Grand Prix CSI 3*.