Kent Farrington and Toulayna. Photo: FEI/Shannon Brinkman
Opening round of the 2026 World Cup in time jumping with US riders in top form, two Germans with dream rounds and two others who would probably have liked to do away with the last jump.
Only a few spectators came to the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth at 2 p.m. local time to watch the time jumping to kick off the 2026 World Cup Finals. But the few who were there were treated to a great show with four local pairs in the top ten (alongside the winner Lillie Keenan/Kick On, 4th, Jacob Pope/Highway FBH, 5th, Aaron Vale/Carissimo, 6th).
It all started with the first rider in the competition, Aaron Vale on the Holstein Cascadello son Carissimo, who delivered a confident start with a clear round of 64.32 seconds. The next pair showed that it was not quite as easy as Vale and Carissimo made it look.
That was Willem Greve and Pretty Woman van’t Paradijs, the Dutchman who had traveled to Texas as the leader of the Western European League with the mare who had won two stages on the way to the USA. However, there was no sign of that today. They finished the course with four faults, the equivalent of twelve penalty seconds. Completely atypical. But other favorites, such as Laura Kraut with two faults on Tresen Bien Z, were to suffer a similar fate – much to the regret of her numerous fans in the arena.
Outstanding Kent Farrington
Kent Farrington was not one of the favorites who disappointed. The number two in the world rankings, recent winner of the Rolex Grand Prix of Wellington with Greya, had saddled up his twelve-year-old Toulon daughter Toulayna today. She swept through the course like a string – wasting no unnecessary time in the air, barely on her feet and already moving forward again with lightning-fast reflexes. And Kent Farrington rode as always – precise, controlled and effortless like a machine. The clock stopped at 62.03 seconds. Nobody was going to beat that today, even if Daniel Deußer came close.
Farrington after his ride: “Everything went more or less according to plan. I have great confidence in this horse and was able to do exactly what I set out to do.”
Toulayna is now off. Tomorrow Farrington will saddle up his top horse Greya. What does the win today mean to him? “That was a good start. But there’s still a long way to go and look who’s coming behind me, they’re the best in the world.”
Super ride by Daniel Deußer with Otello in top form
Daniel Deußer and Otello de Guldenboom, a twelve-year-old son of his Tobago Z, who is just about to reach the zenith of his career. Photo: FEI/Shannon Brinkman
Kent Farrington was probably thinking primarily of the pair in second place, Daniel Deußer and Otello de Guldenboom. They also managed a textbook course with a great overview and an Otello (who is a son of Daniel Deußer’s successful stallion Tobago) who you can see thinking and fighting along. In the end, the pair came within 0.18 seconds of the winning time.
“Otello made it easy for me today,” summed up the 2014 final winner after his ride. “There’s still a long way to go, but the feeling was very good,” he also kept a low profile with regard to the coming days.
Guerdat with the chance to make history
Iashin Sitte is a horse that is often underestimated, says Steve Guerdat about the Bamako de Muze son, who has given the Swiss rider a good starting position for his mission to win his fourth World Cup. Photo: FEI/Shannon Brinkman
Rodrigo Pessoa, Marcus Ehning, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum – they are among the top stars of show jumping who have won three World Cup finals. Olympic champion Steve Guerdat also belongs to this illustrious circle. But this year he is the only one who has the chance to go down in history as the first rider to win four finals.
He missed the 2025 decision in Basel in his native Switzerland due to his back problems. He almost didn’t make it to Fort Worth either. He was only able to ride three qualifiers, but he won two of them, both with the twelve-year-old Bamako de Muze son Iashin Sitte, who Guerdat says does not really like indoor arenas. There was no sign of this in his victories in Leipzig and Helsinki, nor today.
What Iashin Sitte does on the course doesn’t look very spectacular – his canter is limited in scope and his motto in life seems to be that a good horse only jumps as high as it has to. But he does this very reliably and doesn’t waste any unnecessary time. He is also as agile as a go cart. In this way, they finished third in 62.49 seconds.
Great performance, but perfectionist Guerdat looked rather unhappy as he left the arena. “I wasn’t entirely happy with my round, I could have done better. But the good thing is that there is still room for improvement. And as far as Iashin is concerned, I’m perfectly happy.”
He had hoped to finish in the top five. The fact that he is now third is of course all the better. “I am relieved. The Table C jumping competition (the time trial that kicks off the championships) is a competition that you want to have behind you. You can lose a lot there.”
The cursed last jump
Patrick Stühlmeyer and Baloutaire as well as Richard Vogel and Gangster Montdesir can tell you a thing or two about that. Both had a knockdown at the last obstacle.
Stühlmeyer approached the course rhythmically and systematically. The main thing was to clear at the start, seemed to be his motto, and everything looked as if it would work out. Even on the last jump, which could be tackled with either six or seven canter jumps at a bent distance, everything went perfectly. It looked almost casual how “Stühli” and the 15-year-old OS stallion by Balou du Rouet pulled the trigger at exactly the right distance and moment. Nevertheless, the pole fell. Bitter! In the end, the pair finished 21st.
And yes, even Richard Vogel doesn’t always succeed in everything. He had brought his ten-year-old young star Gangster Montdesir with him to Fort Worth. The Kannan son had reached the jump-off every time in the six 1.60 tests he had competed in before today. It was only when he was up against the clock that he made a mistake. This was also the case today.
Vogel had set his sights high. This was evident from the very first obstacle. But they already lost valuable seconds at the turn after the combination 4ab to obstacle 5, where the riders had to hit a gap between two obstacles. However, they worked their way closer and closer to the time of the leading Farrington as the course, designed by Mexican rider Anderson Lima, progressed. Their performance would at least have been good enough for fourth place. But not with the additional three penalty seconds they received for the knockdown at the last jump, 14th place.
Dittmer and Cody very cool
Things went much better for René Dittmer and his Casall-son Cody at the start of their first World Cup final. Dittmer rode the chestnut, bred by Sören von Rönne from the line of his legendary Landgraf I mare Taggi, calmly and clearly to the finish line with no faults, giving himself a good starting point in eleventh place. Because as the front runners have already said – there is still a long way to go.
The next milestone on this route is the second competition over 1.60 meters with jump-off on Friday evening at 7 p.m. local time, i.e. 2 a.m. local time.
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