Fresh off a speed victory during the Traverse City Spring Series, Kent Farrington and Diakatisa opened the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, presented by B&D Builders, with an impressive victory in Thursday’s $31,100 CSI3* Welcome Stake.
Though he had a great week to close the Spring Series with his top mount Greya, Farrington’s focus is back on the youngsters he is developing. The Olympic silver medalist entered two 9-year-olds in Thursday’s class, and both jumped clear around Martin Otto’s (GER) first-round track.
They were in good company with 19 clear efforts, but it was Diakatisa who ultimately brought home the blue, edging out the competition by over a second for the top placing.
“She’s really learning the ropes and learning how to compete,” Farrington said of the Oldenburg mare (Diaron OLD x Stakkatol). “She’s getting better and better at her job. It’ll be fun to see where she ends up in the future.”
“It’s hard to find good horses, so I try to pick talent when they’re young,” he said about his string and how he sources new additions. “Some of them look a little bit wild and unrideable, we try to do the best we can to train them and some of them make it up the ranks into hopefully being stars for the future.”
Diakatisa continues to reward that long-term approach, gaining valuable experience each time she steps into international competition. What’s helping tremendously with her development is the ability to regularly compete in rings like the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring so Farrington can teach her to be a proactive competitor.
He calls it “ring savvy,” and Diakatisa is showing she knows exactly what that means.
“Every horse I’m riding has to learn to look for the fences and they really only learn to do that by competing in the ring and getting ring mileage,” he explained.
Ultimately Farrington credited smooth riding more than outright speed. He picks naturally fast horses, so the speed is always there, but the track is what he was able to manipulate to his advantage to take the top placing.
Just behind him in second was Brian Moggre (USA) with Johann FS Z, and Shane Sweetnam (IRL) picked up third aboard Honey Heart.
With additional young mounts set to take on international speed action this week, Farrington is enjoying being able to produce more than one horse and set his team up for optimal success.
“We’re lucky we get to ride two horses here,” he remarked. “It’s a great part of America and bringing up young horses that I can enter multiple horses in a class. It’s more to be able to produce young horses than anything else. Not too many times that I’m in [a circumstance to beat myself] so it’s a nice bonus.”
All results here.
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