| Darragh Kenny | |
|---|---|
 Darragh Kenny competing at the LGCT of New York | |
| Personal information | |
| Nationality |  Ireland |
| Discipline | Show jumping |
| Born | 24 January 1988 [1] Belmont, County Offaly, Ireland |
| Website | |
| www | |
Darragh Kenny (born 24 January 1988) is an Irish equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping. He owns and runs Oakland Ventures LLC alongside Hardin Towell and has consistently been in the world top 10 riders. As of May 2020, Kenny is ranked 7th in the world. [2]
Kenny is the son of two horse trainers in Ireland, and grew up around horses. He showed talent early on and competed in his first Grand Prix at the age of 14. [3] He qualified for the Dublin Horse Show where he won a training bursary to work with Missy Clark and John Brennan at their North Run Stables in Warren, Vermont in 2007, which brought him to America to compete at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida. [4] Under Clark's guidance, Kenny was given the rides on Obelix and Gael Force, horses that he qualified for his first FEI World Cup Finals on and continued to campaign at the highest level including representing Ireland in Nations Cup events. [5]
In 2012, after many successful years with North Run, Kenny left to found his own Oakland Ventures LLC, where he both rode and trained clients. Within a few months, Kenny had acquired a dozen horses in his stable thanks to help from Don Stewart and Mavis Spencer. [6] Kenny quickly formed partnerships with Caroline Lloyd to rider her horse Sans Soucis Z (with whom he won the Aga Khan Trophy at the Dublin Horse Show) and the Hyperion Stud group which provided him with several horses including Imothep who was his mount at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France where he placed 12th individually. Kenny was partnered with Hyperion Stud through 2019. [6] [7]
Recently, Kenny has campaigned many top horses including Babalou 41 (owned by Dr. Jack Snyder) who was recently retired, Balou du Reventon, Cassini Z & Classic Dream (owned by Ann Thompson), and Billy Dorito (owned by Vlock Show Stables). [8] Alongside business partner Hardin Towell, Kenny trains several young riders including Teddy Vlock, Maggie Hill, and Kirsten Ostling. [9]
Kenny has a newly formed partnership with Heathman Farm & the Stinnett family who have added top horses to Kenny's string. Heathman Farm's VDL Cartello will take the spotlight with Kenny for this years 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Kenny also rides Heathman Farm's idalville d'esprit, Storiall Blue & Sangris Boy.
| Year | Place | Horse | Class | Rating | Show | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | Classic Dream | $213,300 Longines World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix | CSI4*-W | Palm Beach Masters | Wellington, FL (USA) |
| 2019 | 1 | Classic Dream | Longines Christmas Cracker 1.55m | CSI5* | London Olympia | London (UK) |
| 2019 | 1 | Important de Muze | Santa Stakes 1.55m | CSI5* | London Olympia | London (UK) |
| 2019 | 2 | Romeo 88 | Rolex IJRC Top 10 Final | CSI5* | CHI Geneva | Geneva (CH) |
| 2019 | 1 | Sweet Tricia | €55,600 Queen's Cup | CSIO5*-NC | Nations Cup Final | Barcelona (ESP) |
| 2019 | 1 | Balou du Reventon | Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final | CSIO5* | Nations Cup Final | Barcelona (ESP) |
| 2019 | 1 | Balou du Reventon | €300,000 LGCT Grand Prix of Chantilly | CSI5* | LGCT Chantilly | Chantilly (FRA) |
| 2019 | 1 | Balou du Reventon | €500,000 Rolex Grand Prix | CSI5* | Knokke Hippique | Knokke-Heist (BEL) |
| 2018 | 1 | Cassini Z | Santa Stakes 1.55m | CSI5* | London Olympia | London (UK) |
| 2018 | 1 | Balou du Reventon | Longine FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final | CSIO5*-NC | Nations Cup Final | Barcelona (ESP) |
| 2018 | 1 | Balou du Reventon | Sport Ireland Classic | CSIO5*-NC | Dublin Horse Show | Dublin (IRL) |
| 2017 | 1 | Chanel | Dura Vermeer Prijs 1.55m | CSIO5* | Rotterdam | Rotterdam (NLD) |
A Hanoverian is a Warmblood horse breed originating in Germany, which is often seen in the Olympic Games and other competitive English riding styles, and has won gold medals in all three equestrian Olympic competitions. It is one of the oldest, most numerous, and most successful of the Warmblood breeds. Originally a cavalry horse, infusions of more Thoroughbred blood lightened it to make it more agile and useful for competition. The Hanoverian is known for a good temperament, athleticism, beauty, and grace.
A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and international championships in a given discipline or breed. Most shows consist of a series of different performances, called classes, wherein a group of horses with similar training or characteristics compete against one another for awards and, often, prize money.
Cian O'Connor is an Irish equestrian who competes in show jumping. He has competed at three Olympic Games, four World Championships and six European Championships, and has attained 133 senior caps for his country. He placed first at the 2004 Olympics, but his horse was later discovered to have a banned substance in its system, and O'Connor was stripped of the gold medal. He won an individual bronze medal at the London Olympic Games 2012 and was a member of the Irish team that took a gold medal at the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2017. O’Connor also won a bronze individual medal at the latter event. At the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Cian and his Irish-bred mount Susan Magnier’s Irish bred Kilkenny finished seventh in the individual class.
The Selle Français (SF) is a breed of sport horse from France. It is renowned primarily for its success in show jumping, but many have also been successful in dressage and eventing. An athletic horse with good gaits, it is usually bay or chestnut in color. The Selle Français was created in 1958 when several French riding horse breeds were merged into one stud book. The new breed was meant to serve as a unified sport horse during a period when horses were being replaced by mechanization and were transforming into an animal used mainly for sport and leisure.
Rodrigo de Paula Pessoa, known as Rodrigo Pessoa, is a Brazilian equestrian and show jumper. An Olympic gold-medalist in individual jumping, he is an accomplished rider backed with over 70 Grand Prix wins. He has represented Brazil at seven Olympic Games. In 2017, Horse Sport Ireland announced Pessoa as the new Irish showjumping team manager. As chief for Team Ireland, they won the 2017 European title in Gothenburg, and in 2019 got Ireland qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by winning the FEI Nation's Cup final. At the end of 2019, he ended his cooperation with Horse Sport Ireland to dedicate time to his family and riding career. He rides for James H. Clark and Artemis Farms in Wellington and Greenwich.
Eddie Macken is an Irish equestrian show jumper, who was a member of the Irish team - along with Paul Darragh, Capt. Con Power, and James Kernan – that won the Aga Khan Cup three years in a row. Other notable career highlights include a record four consecutive Hickstead Derby wins, two individual silver medals at the Show Jumping World Championships, 1974 with Pele and 1978 on Boomerang, and an individual silver medal at the 1977 European Championships with Pele. Macken has many major Grand Prix victories worldwide. Many of Macken's achievements were gained in partnership with his Irish bred gelding, Boomerang. From Macken's first rides with Boomerang as a four-year-old in 1970, the pair blazed a trail of wins that lasted a decade.
Joseph "Joe" Halpin Fargis IV is an American showjumper and Olympic champion. Fargis won showjumping individual gold and team gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He won showjumping team silver at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He is the owner of Sandron Farm.
Elizabeth Madden is an American Olympic champion equestrian competing in show jumping. She has two Olympic golds and one silver in team jumping, and an individual bronze. She won the FEI Show Jumping World Cup twice; won two silvers and two bronzes at World Championships; and won two golds, one silver and two bronzes at the Pan American Games. She was the first American to break into the international top three show jumping ranking, and the first woman to win over one million dollars in show jumping prize money.
McLain Ward is an American show jumping competitor and five-time Olympic medalist.
Benjamin Richard Maher MBE is a British show jumper. He represented Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2009 European Championships in Windsor, 2012 London Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He won the team jumping gold at the London Olympics with Team GB, their first team jumping gold medal for 60 years, and an individual gold for Great Britain at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He also won bronze at the 2011 Europeans Championships in Madrid, Spain. He has won many international Grand Prix, including the Olympia Grand Prix, the King George V Gold Cup at Hickstead and an FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix at Wellington with various rides.
Steve Guerdat is a Swiss equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping.
Boyd Martin is an American equestrian competing in the discipline of eventing. He has participated in three consecutive Summer Olympic Games and is a two-time Pan American Games team gold medalist and individual gold medalist. Boyd and his wife Silva run their Windurra USA training operation out of Cochranville, Pa. He is a two-time CCI5*-L winner, most recently taking top honors aboard On Cue at the 2021 Maryland CCI5*-L, and previously rode True Blue Toozac to the win in the 2003 Adelaide CCI5*-L.
Martin Fuchs is a Swiss Olympic show jumping rider. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he finished sixth in the team and ninth in the individual competition. In 2019 he won the individual gold at the 2019 European Championship in Rotterdam. As of 31 May 2022, he is ranked as the World Number 1 showjumper by the FEI.
The individual eventing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics is scheduled to take place from 30 July to 2 August 2021 at the Baji Koen and Sea Forest Cross-Country Course. Like all other equestrian events, the eventing competition is open-gender, with both male and female athletes competing in the same division. 65 riders from 29 nations are expected to compete.
Oliver David Townend is a British eventing rider competing at the international three-day level. His wins include team gold at the 2007, 2009 and 2017 European Championships and wins at Badminton Horse Trials, Burghley Horse Trials, and the Kentucky Three Day Event. He also represented Britain at the World Equestrian Games in 2006 and 2014. He was the Event Rider Masters series champion in 2016. He has been eventing's world number one twice, in 2009 and again in 2018, and British number one seven times since 2009.
Nayel Nassar is an Egyptian American professional equestrian. He first began riding at age five and jumping at ten. Nassar qualified for the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) Show Jumping World Cup Finals in 2013, 2014, and 2017, and the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2014. He competed at the Longines FEI World Cup Finals in Paris and regularly competes on the international Grand Prix circuit.
Richard Rankin Fellers is an American Olympic equestrian and horse trainer. In 2023 he pled guilty to sexually abusing one of his students when she was 17. According to the Washington County, Oregon district attorney, he will serve 30 months in state prison concurrently with a four year federal sentence.
Pieter Devos is Belgian show jumping rider from Diest, Belgium. He is a regular on the Belgian team and has won team gold medals at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam (NEL) and 2018 FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona (ESP), both on Claire Z. He runs his family's fruit farm and he and his brother share Devos Stables BVBA. He married Caroline Poels in 2015 and the couple have a daughter, Lisa, born in 2017, and a son, Vic, born in 2019.
Mathilda Thanuja Karlsson is a Sri Lankan born Swedish equestrian athlete. Mathila hails from Sri Lanka and was adopted by her Swedish parents when she was three months old. She competed for Sweden until 2018, when she switched to her native country. In 2021 she qualified as an individual rider for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, being the first Sri Lankan equestrian at the Olympic Games. She also became the first Sri Lankan to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Her horse is named as Chopin VA.
Teddy Vlock is an Israeli-American equestrian.
