Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue won the $116,100 Adequan® CSI5* WEF Challenge Cup Round 7 last night at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida.
Eleven combinations advanced to the tiebreaker, with the Irish representatives coming out in top over Andy Christiansen’s (ECU) jump-off course.
Irish 1-2
The 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding stopped the clock at 37.90 seconds with Wexford’s Bertram Allen right behind in 39.12 seconds riding Conquest de Rigo.
Taking third was Charlotte Jacobs (USA) in a time of 40.01 seconds riding North Star’s Playboy JT Z, an 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding.
Kenny delighted to be back in action
“I knew Bertram’s horse has a massive stride,” Kenny admitted. “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 his 2025 European Championships partner Eddy Blue.
Kenny was officially cleared to return to international competition on 13 February after the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) lifted a provisional suspension issued on 13 October 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 Irish 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.”
