February 4, 2024 
Meep, meep! They’re two of the quickest riders anywhere on the globe—but who’s got the edge when it comes to the numbers?
Fast & Furious may be one of the top-grossing movie franchises of all time, but for our money, the adrenaline rush of street racing’s got nothing on a jump-off startlist featuring notorious speedsters Kent Farrington (USA) and Julien Epaillard (FRA).
For the last decade, these two kings of American and French show jumping have been regular fixtures on the top-10 Longines Rankings, regularly grossing close to $1 million a year in prize money (or in Farrington’s case—more). But while it’s clear neither of these guys takes his foot off the gas pedal very often, the world wants to know:
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fastest rider of them all?
Let’s review their Jumpr App stats find out!
Methodology
On the surface, Farrington and Epaillard have a lot in common. They both have had long careers in the sport, with ups and downs like anybody else. And, interestingly, both have the exact same 46% clear round percentage across all years, jump heights, and horses.
Epaillard has more total victories and podium finishes (395 wins/565 podium finishes compared to Farrington’s 172 wins/302 podium finishes, comparatively). But those figures don’t take into account the height of the classes jumped or the level of the international competition (for instance, CSI1* compared to a CSI5*).
And since owners can come and go and building a string takes time, we’ve opted for a side-by-side comparison (thanks Jumpr App!) of each rider’s top four horses during their best show jumping year to date, according to prize money won.
For Farrington, 43, that was 2017, when he grossed €1,936,912 in winnings and competed horses including Creedance, Dublin, Sherkan d’amaury, and Gazelle. Forty-six-year-old Epaillard, on the other hand, is currently coming off his own career-high 2023, when he earned almost the same amount—€1,927,136—aboard Donatello D’auge, Dubai Du Cedre, Hoover, and Cancun Torel Z.
Height Matters
During 2017, Kent Farrington jumped a total of 242 international rounds across all heights compared to Epaillard’s 278 in 2023. Interestingly, both earned exactly 11 podium finishes at the championship-level 1.60m height; Farrington has the the slight edge here, though, with 10 wins compared to Epaillard’s 8.
At the ‘lower’ heights, however, things get more interesting. While Epaillard won 8 classes and podiumed in 14 competitions at 1.50m–1.55m, Farrington nearly doubled that podium number, earning 11 wins and 26 podium finishes at 1.50m–1.55m.
That flip-flops at the speed-round height of 1.45m, where Epaillard clearly concentrates his efforts, climbing 16 podiums, 13 of them as wins. Farrington, on the other hand, earned just 5 podium finishes and 3 wins at 1.45m in 2017.
This discrepancy is also consistent when one examines each rider’s clear-round percentages, with Farrington boasting an average of more than 50% at 1.50m–1.55m. Epaillard, on the other hand, doesn’t exceed a 37% average at the same heights. At 1.45m, the Frenchman improves to 43%, while Farrington drops below 30%.
So, in essence, while they may have earned very similar prize money totals during their most lucrative years to date, they did so with varying win totals at varying heights. Therefore, it’s hard to determine a speed winner here, since this discrepancy is likely due to higher prize money offered at the mid-range 1.50m-1.55m classes, despite Epaillard’s clear dominance at the speed-round height of 1.45m.
Horse-by-Horse
Unfortunately for our American hero, though, things get a little clearer when we compare the top-four, horse-by-horse numbers for Farrington in 2017 and Epaillard in 2023. Despite 50% or above clear-round percentages from Farrington’s top horses Dublin (54%) and Gazelle (50%)—the lightning-fast mare who also finished in the top-10 40% of the time—Farrington’s string finishes below Epaillard’s lineup on almost all fronts.
While both riders completed nearly the same number of rounds on their best mounts (180 for Farrington; 182 for Epaillard), Epaillard’s horses all boast clear-round percentages of 50% or better compared to only two of Farrington’s.
But it’s those top-10 finishing percentages that are particularly telling: Farrington’s four horses average 33.75% top-10 finishes compared to Epaillard’s 38.25%—and that 4.5% difference, while small, is significant. It means that every time the French rider does jump clear, he’s riding fast enough to ensure himself a piece of the pie 4.5% more often than Farrington does.
Epaillard’s 11-year-old Selle Français gelding Donatello D’auge, for example, jumps clear 59% of the time, finishing in the top-10 at 40%. Even more impressive is Epaillard’s Selle Français mare, Dubai Du Cedre, also 11, who just took home the 1.60m CSI5*-W Grand Prix of Amsterdam in January of 2024. In 2023, Dubai finished in the top-10 44% of the time.
The Verdict…
Though both men boast impressive stats by any margin, the Jumpr App numbers don’t lie. With more than €11.2 million in total career earnings, Kent Farrington is the clear career victor when it comes to prize money, alone, earning more than €4 million more than Epaillard at €7 million.
By our calculations of their most lucrative years to date, however, Epaillard’s string has the edge over Farrington’s when it comes to clear round performance combined with that 4.5% advantage in top-10 finishes, and therefore, speed in the ring.
So there you have it!
Felicitations, France. Julien Epaillard is indeed the fastest of them all—at least so far. Thankfully, we’ll all have the chance to watch these two titans blaze it out in jump-offs around the globe in 2024—and that’s something everyone can appreciate.
