In the first grand prix of the 2025 Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) season, world no. 1 Kent Farrington (USA) returned to the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, presented by B&D Builders, and did what he does best by capturing his fifth five-star grand prix victory in under one year with his special mare Greya. In the $340,000 B&D Builders CSI5* Grand Prix, they left nothing to chance in a 15-horse jump-off and took home the title.
Farrington and Greya are comfortable in the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring, where they have now won two five-star grand prix in under one year, capturing one of the final classes of the 2024 season in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Traverse City and now the first of the 2025 season.
“It just feels great to have a horse like this to ride at all,” Farrington said of the 11-year-old Oldenburg mare (Colestus x Contender). “No matter what venue I take her to, she can always deliver and she did that again today. I’m thrilled with the horse and I feel very privileged to have an athlete like this underneath me.”
Farrington had seen half the order take on Marina Azevedo’s (BRA) short course before stepping in, so he knew which areas could be problem spots, but the pair effortlessly sped around in 38.31 seconds. His confidence in Greya was high since the beginning of their partnership, but as the mare gains experience she just keeps getting better.
“She’s very fast; she’s almost more like a cat than a horse,” he continued. “She’s really quick across the ground, incredibly careful at the jumps—she’s just a different level horse which is an advantage in a jump-off like today.”
Erynn Ballard. (Megan Giese Media / TCHS)
Going early in the jump-off, Julien Anquetin (FRA) held the lead with Blood Diamond du Pont until Farrington came in. He ended up in second place, with Lillie Keenan capturing third aboard Fasther. Canada’s Erynn Ballard, a member of the DIHP Roadrunners, placed 5th riding Ilan Ferder’s Dior and was also awarded the Turnham Green Leading Lady Award during for GLEF VI.
Anquetin’s podium finish put his team, the DIHP Roadrunners, into the lead after the first week of MLSJ action for 2025. Sitting just behind in second is Helios, with the Trailblazers sitting in third, all just one point ahead of the next.
Farrington has been an MLSJ team owner for three seasons and continues to be a staple along the tour, which allows him to jump at world-class five-star events while staying closer to home.
“I think it’s helping American sport,” he said of MLSJ. “It’s improving every single year. I’m impressed to see higher-level riders coming over from Europe which elevates the level of sport we have here, which in turn then raises everybody’s level of riding. I think that’s really what we need here in America.”
Complete results from the $340,000 B&D Builders CSI5* Grand Prix can be found here.
Five-star competition returns to Traverse City Horse Shows during the Tournament of Champions this fall, Sept. 3-7, featuring the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Traverse City and American Gold Cup.
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