AMERICA came out on top at the three-star Rolex Central Park Horse Show with the top three riders in the $216,000 US Open Grand Prix from the home nation, topped by Kent Farrington who had an extra special reason to win at the venue.

Earlier in the day, Farrington announced he would donate any prize money he won to charity, benefitting the victims of the recent natural disaster, Hurricane Irma, which hit the state of Florida, where Farrington spends the winter, quite hard.

From the 27 combinations that started over Guilherme Jorge’s track, nine went clear to make for a competitive jump-off under the lights and in front of the spectacular New York City backdrop. Amongst the clears was Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam with Indra Van De Oude Heihoef, a big winner at the American Gold Cup the weekend prior.

The revised track caused plenty of problems in the timed round, but the world number one found the key when posting a brilliant round in 37.46 seconds with Creedance. The patriotic crowd were on the edge of their seats as they willed him on and had an anxious wait when Sweetnam was last to go.

Always quick against the clock, Sweetnam produced a great round but rubbed a pole in his efforts to catch Farrington and had to settle for sixth place. Hardin Towell slotted into second place with Lucifer V, ahead of Kristen Vanderveen and Bull Run’s Faustino De Tili (0/0 37.70).

Speaking after the class, Farrington said: “This is a very special venue, very impressive for the horses. Warming up in the back of the park and walking across in the dark, some of them are a bit star struck so luckily we have a very good course designer. He built a fair course for us and I’m very happy to get out with a win.”

When asked about his decision to donate to the hurricane relief effort, Farrington added: “I am a resident of Florida, my mum lives there and had to relocate to New York to stay with my sister after the hurricane.

“We were lucky that the hurricane relocated to the other side of Florida but some others weren’t so lucky. I feel very fortunate to be travelling the world and competing for prize money. This event is all about showcasing our sport and I thought it was a great opportunity to do something for people that could use it.”

Amazingly, Farrington then left for the New Albany Classic Invitational in Ohio and claimed the $125,000 New Albany Classic Invitational Grand Prix on Sunday with Voyeur.