Edited press release from Royal Windsor Horse Show

Saturday's feature class at the 2024-edition of Royal Windsor Horse Show — the CSI5* Kingdom of Bahrain Stakes for the King’s Cup — was a 1.55m class with those jumping clear from the first round going through to a jump-off. 

In total, six riders made it through to jump against the clock. Kent Farrington (USA) was first into the arena to set the standard aboard the 11-year-old chestnut gelding Landon (Comilfo Plus Z x Quadrillo). A twice-former winner of the Rolex Grand Prix in Windsor, Farrington knows what it takes to achieve victory in the famous Castle Arena and didn’t leave much room for improvement, jumping clear in an impressive time of 35.38 seconds. Farrington’s U.S. teammate, Laura Kraut riding Confu (Contact Me x Cambridge 8), followed into the arena with a promising start, but accrued four faults at the final fence. 

Great Britain’s Joseph Stockdale and Ebanking (Etoulon x VDL Sheraton) had the crowd gasping as they made the tightest of turns throughout, however the combination were another to fall victim to the final fence, finishing on four faults. However, Stockdale’s time proved Farrington could be beaten and Italy’s Giulia Martinengo Marquet gave it her best shot with Scuderia 1918 Calle Deluxe (Cesano 2 x Con Air 7), jumping clear, but was unable to match the American’s pace. Dutch rider Harrie Smolders was another to jump clear together with Springfield 21 (Stakkato Gold x Classiker), but his time was only good enough for eventual third. 

Farrington, who first won this class back in 2016 and repeated the victory in 2021, said: “This show has been very kind to me, there’s a great crowd, lots of support for my sport — I really appreciate it. Royal Windsor is one of my favourite shows, I love to keep coming back.”

As riders turn their gaze onto Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix — the feature class of the week — Farrington continued: “Tomorrow’s a new day. I will be riding my other horse to give her a chance to shine. It will be a tough competition with so many top riders, but I hope for the best.”