Darragh Kenny Crowned King of Monterrey in GNP Seguros 5* Grand Prix

Published

04 NOV 2024

Est. reading time

3 min

Irish Olympian Darragh Kenny rode to a hard-fought victory in the GNP Seguros 5* Grand Prix aboard VDL Cartello during Concurso de Salto La Silla to close out Major League Show Jumping’s (MLSJ) seventh leg at the storied Club Hípico La Silla in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sunday.

Kenny guided the 17-year-old Holsteiner stallion (Cartani 4 x Lord) owned by Heathman Farm, to a blistering time to beat of 36.27 seconds over an expansive jump-off course built by Anthony D’Ambrosio (USA).

The victory was a meaningful one for Kenny, but also an emotional moment for VDL Cartello’s connections

prix on him towards the end of his career is very cool,” said the world no. 22 rider, who plans to retire VDL Cartello in a few weeks at CHI Geneva. “He’s been an incredible horse for me, and honestly, it’s been nothing but fun.”

While VDL Cartello’s list of accomplishments is lengthy, a five-star grand prix win has eluded the stallion until now.

“Somehow we’ve always missed out on a five-star grand prix win, so I thought I’d risk everything [today] to see what could happened and I honestly have never gone this fast with him,” said Kenny of the horse that carried him to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games. “He's a super brave horse, so I could take a risk one to two doing the seven. I went as fast as I could to the oxer and took another risk to the wall. He had a little touch there, but it stayed up.”

Chasing Kenny in the six-horse jump-off, Emanuele Camilli (ITA) finished fractions off the pace in 36.27 seconds for the runner-up honor riding Odense Odeveld, a 10-year- old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Diamant de Semilly x Querlybet Hero) owned together with Paul Schockemöhle and R&R Horses. Third went to Sameh El Dahan (GBR) riding WKD Aimez Moi, a 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare sired by Je t’Aime Flamenco and owned together with Joanne Sloan-Allen. They stopped the clock at 36.48 seconds.

Less than a second separated the top four with lead-off rider Christian Ahlmann (GER) finishing fourth on Dourkhan Hero Z in 36.89 seconds.

“I’ve always wanted to win this grand prix, and to be able to do it with this horse in this moment is pretty special,” concluded Kenny.

Coming off a grand prix win at MLSJ Tryon, Ireland’s Conor Swail produced consistent results again in Monterrey, including a top five finish in the GNP Seguros Grand Prix riding My Lady Lavista. The boost allowed him to take over the top spot on the individual MLSJ leaderboard with 63 points. He currently leads Kent Farrington (USA) by only three points with Kenny jumping into the top five to take over third on 42.

MLSJ action now heads to the season finals at Desert International Horse Park in La Quinta, CA. The back-to-back weeks feature the $1m 5* Coachella Cup and MLSJ Individual Final on December 7 before MLSJ crowns a new season champion in the Team Final on December 14. Catch it all on MLSJ TV.