IRISH Olympian Darragh Kenny took the International Arena at Wellington by storm on Thursday with Eddy Blue, winning the $116,100 Adequan CSI5* WEF Challenge Cup Round 7.

Eleven advanced to the tiebreaker, and not a stride was out of place for Kenny aboard his 2025 European Championships partner Eddy Blue, a 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Carol A Sollak. The pair stopped the clock at 37.90 seconds, with fellow countryman Bertram Allen right behind in 39.12 seconds riding Conquest de Rigo, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood, owned by Aloga Stables.

“I knew Bertram’s horse has a massive stride; he did seven [strides] from one to two. I wasn’t sure if I could do that, but it showed up for me. I think my horse is more experienced than his in jump-offs, so that’s probably where it got him,” said Kenny of his jump-off round with the Eldorado VD Zeshoek TN x Chacco-Blue gelding.

Kenny was officially cleared to return to international competition on February 13th after the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) lifted a provisional suspension issued on October 13th following a positive drug test during the FEI European Championships.

“This is my first week back - Bertram rode Eddy for me recently and did a fantastic job on him,” said the Tokyo Olympian. “The horse feels ready to go, and he was amazing today, as he always is. I’m very lucky to have such a fantastic group of owners and staff, who kept the horses in great shape. I was lucky Bertram was able to ride them for me - I’m very thankful to everybody who was involved in that.” Further coverage from week seven of the Winter Equestrian Festival will appear next week.