Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue from Offaly won round seven of the $116,100 Adequan® CSI5* WEF Challenge Cup last night at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida.
Eleven combinations qualified for the tiebreaker, with the Irish representatives winning in Andy Christiansen’s (ECU) play-off.
Irish 1-2
The 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding stopped the clock at 37.90 seconds, followed by Wexford’s Bertram Allen in 39.12 seconds on Rigo’s Conquest.
Charlotte Jacobs (USA) took third place with a time of 40.01 seconds on North Star’s Playboy JT Z, an 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding.
Kenny excited to be back in action
“I knew Bertram’s horse had a huge stride,” Kenny admitted. “He made seven [strides] from one to two. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but it manifested for me. I think my horse is more experienced than his in the jump-offs, so that’s probably where it took him,” Kenny said of his jump-off with 2025 European Championships partner Eddy Blue.
Kenny was officially cleared to return to international competition on February 13 after the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) lifted a provisional suspension issued on October 13 following a positive doping test at the FEI European Championships.
“It’s my first week back – Bertram rode Eddy for me recently and did a fantastic job on him,” said the Irish Olympian. “The horse feels ready to go, and he was amazing today, as he always is. I’m very lucky to have a fantastic group of owners and staff who kept the horses in great shape. I was lucky that Bertram was able to ride them for me – I’m very grateful to everyone who was involved in this.”
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