Day two of the 2026 World Cup Show Jumping Final. One of the favorites in the run-up to the event decided not to compete: Willem Greve, the only Dutch rider. He had traveled to Fort Worth as the leader of the Western European League. However, after his Pretty Woman van’t Paradies did not show her usual form yesterday, he decided not to enter her in the other competitions.
The course was no easier today than yesterday, on the contrary. As you would expect from a championship, course designer Anderson Lima (MEX) and his team gave the participants in the second competition in the 2026 World Cup Final for show jumpers a few nuts to crack.
Two double combinations and a triple with a mighty oxer in the middle, plus a few “eye-catching jumps” and a set-up that did not forgive any loss of rhythm, led to numerous knockdowns and many a favorite fall – sometimes in the truest sense of the word, as with Richard Vogel and Gangster Montdesir, who got off to a great start but could not find any distance on the oxer to the last line. Vogel gave an impulse forward, Gangster reacted, had a drop, saved himself over the double combination, but it didn’t fit at all on the last oxer. The Kannan son jumped through rather than over the jump, Vogel lost his balance and came out of the saddle. That was a scare, but both Vogel and Gangster left the course safe and sound.
This last line was one of the main sources of faults in the first round. Patrick Stühlmeyer and Baloutaire PS also had another down at the last jump. However, it looked as if the stallion had already kicked himself in the irons beforehand and they also had a down at Liverpool, where the black stallion looked into the water once and seemed to be distracted for a moment. The dream was over.
Daniel Deußer’s Otello de Guldenboom also jumped outstandingly today, attentive, careful and powerful. He had to stretch himself mightily at the middle oxer of the triple. He lacked power at the jump-off. The stallion flicked his hindquarters out again to gain height, but he grazed the pole and it fell. No jump-off for these two.
The highlight from a German perspective was René Dittmer and Cody. Confident is the word that immediately came to mind during their first round. This is the first World Cup final for the man from Stade and he presented himself and his horse in top form. With a perfectly timed round, they were one of only seven pairs to qualify for the jump-off.
The pricking
Here they encountered favorites and surprises. The latter included the Norwegian Oda Charlotte Lyngvaer, who is based at the Hendrix Stables, and her twelve-year-old Carrera VDL daughter Carabella vd Neyen Z. After her clear round in the first round, she was asked to say something about her mare – she couldn’t do it. Tears of emotion flowed immediately, it was impossible to speak. But riding was still possible. The pair started the jump-off and delivered another clear round, which was also quite fast at 35.95 seconds.
The joy did not last long, however, as Japan’s Eiken Sato and a Chadellano JRA in top form were next up. The athletic Chacco-Blue son flew around the course and crossed the finish line in 34.90 seconds. A new lead for the duo from the stable of Brazilian rider Yuri Mansur.
Katie Dinan (USA) and the wonderful grey mare Out of the Blue were also among the surprises in the jump-off and made the hearts of the US fans in the Dickies Arena, which was estimated to be just under half full, beat faster when they crossed the starting line next. The US rider, trained by Beat Mändli, had produced a wonderful round in the normal course. She had not made any plans for the jump-off beforehand, she later revealed. Perhaps that was her mistake, as two poles fell.
Then it was fingers crossed for René Dittmer and Cody. They caught the first jump perfectly and were already in a clear forward rhythm. At the second jump, the Cascadello son was a shade too flat. Four penalty points in 36.06 seconds, sixth place in the end.
Kevin Staut (FRA) is riding his 15th World Cup final and fourth in a row with the 17-year-old Toulon daughter Visconti du Telman. After rattling her way into the jump-off in the first round with a good dose of luck, the mare turned on the heat here: penalty-free, 35.79 seconds. The provisional second place behind Eiken Sato and ahead of Oda Charlotte Lyngvaer.
Now it was down to the big two, Steve Guerdat (SUI) with Iashin Sitte and Kent Farrington on Greya. Both had already shown themselves to be in absolute top form in the round. If you could see Steve Guerdat’s dissatisfaction with his own riding on his face yesterday after the timed jumping despite a clear round, he was beaming all over his face today. Iashin is in top form and showed this in the jump-off, but also had a careless mistake at the second obstacle, similar to Dittmer’s Cody. But they were slightly faster than the German duo and ultimately finished fifth.
What would the leader Kent Farrington do now? Toulayna, who carried him to victory in the time trial yesterday, has done her job for this weekend. For the decisions, Farrington is relying on the Colestus daughter Greya, who has a 63 percent clear rate, as determined by EQUI RATINGS. Today, the mare was able to polish up her rating a little.
“She showed once again how incredible she is,” summed up a beaming Kent Farrington after the pair flew to victory in a penalty-free 34.36 seconds. But it’s not just this super athletic and cautious mare, it’s also her rider who makes the difference by serving her perfectly at every distance and always finding the right rhythm. It was a lesson in good show jumping. True to the motto “never change a winning team”, Farrington is also backing Greya in Sunday’s final.
Eiken Sato finished second, followed by Kevin Staut, Oda Charlotte Lyngvaer, Steve Guerdat, René Dittmer and Katie Dinan.
