DARRAGH Kenny won a five-star class in St Tropez, France, last weekend aboard the 12-year-old gelding Vinci de Beaufour.

The victory came in Saturday’s 1.50m jump-off class when 11 combinations made it through to the jump-off. Of those, seven produced a second round clear against the clock and Kenny was the fastest of those, breaking the beams in 34.59 seconds, ahead of USA’s Jessica Springsteen in second with RMF Tinkerbell (0/0 34.86).

“I started riding Vinci de Beaufour in mid-January. He’s a really great horse!” Kenny said afterwards. “He is owned by a good friend of mine, Devon MacNeil, and her father. They bought Vinci about a year ago. I just love him. We jumped a couple of big Grands Prix in Wellington this winter, then he was rested for a few weeks in the US.

“He’s been back in Europe for about 10 days and this is his first show. I really think he can be a great Grand Prix horse. I usually take time to build my horses, but in his case, everything goes faster. He competed in the $500,000 Grand Prix in Wellington, he jumped very well and I think he can have a great career at the top level.”

Duffy fifth in Grand Prix

Galway’s Michael Duffy produced a superb double clear to finished fifth in the five-star Grand Prix at the venue, among a star-studded list. Riding his mother Katherine Duffy’s and HMF Equestrian’s 10-year-old gelding Zilton SL Z, he was among 12 of the starting 38 to make it through to the jump-off.

A second clear round in 44.54 second saw him slot into fifth place and take home €14,000. The following day, Duffy and Zilton were named as the first reserve for the Irish show jumping Olympic team for this summer’s Tokyo Olympic Games.

Victory in the five-star Grand Prix went to USA’s Kent Farrington and the speed master Gazelle. In a perfect ending to the class, the French crowd went wild when Julien Epaillard went into the lead when second last to go with Usual Suspect d’Auge (42.30). However, last to go, Farrington upset the French party when going one better in a time of 41.95 to land the top prize of €50,000.