In his first appearance at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC), Kent Farrington (USA) piloted Gazelle to a win in the $35,000 FEI 1.50m Suncast® Welcome, finishing the class in 43.76 seconds. Sharn Wordley (NZL) and Casper crossed through the timers in 47.387 seconds for second place, while Alise Oken (USA) and Hitchcock VD Broekkant collected third place with a time of 47.387 seconds. Major FEI competition continues at the venue with the $130,000 Asheville Regional Airport CSI 3* Grand Prix on Saturday, May 7, at 7:00 p.m.

Farrington, who currently sits in sixth on the FEI World Ranking list, took an efficient and educational approach to the track with Gazelle, capitalizing on opportunities to further the training of the 2006 Belgian Warmblood mare (Kashmir van Schuttershof x Diva ‘Ter Elsen’) as well as improve their communication throughout the course. Manuel Esparza (MEX) designed today’s course in the George Morris Arena, which saw ten combinations move forward to the jump-off round, while six pairs secured a double clear effort on the afternoon.

“Manuel Esparza is an experienced designer and I’ve jumped his courses before in Calgary. They’re always designed very well. I think it was a great class measuring this for the welcome today,” commented Farrington.

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