June 21, 2024 
If you’re looking for a poster child for the sport of show jumping, current no. 6 on the Longines Rankings, Kent Farrington, makes a good one.
The American rider is relatively self-made in a sport where wealth is becoming an increasingly dominant predictor of future success. He trains hard both in and out of the saddle—as evidenced by those bonkers workout videos.
And Farrington is a consummate horseman, often describing how success in the sport is cyclical, and earning top-level results with horses takes time, patience, and positivity.
But in addition to all of that, Farrington is also a winner.
In the past decade, the Olympic team silver medalist has won more than $12.3 million in prize money and a combined total of 53, CSI5*, CSI4*, and CSI3* grands prix—more than any other rider in the world.
Farrington, in fact, is more than 10 wins ahead of France’s Julien Epaillard (the speedy Iceman to his Maverick) at 40, and countryman McLain Ward at 37, according to Jumpr.
But that lead also holds for five-star grands prix only—the clear pinnacle of the sport—where his nearly $9.6 million in prize money and 30 wins narrowly surpass Germany’s Daniel Deusser at 26, and Christian Ahlmann (GER) and Martin Fuchs (SUI), both tied at 23.
Among Farrington’s string of champions, there’s also a clear ‘top-horse’ of the last 10 years. That is, of course, Gazelle.
The American rider counts their win in the CSI5* Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen in 2019 among his chief accomplishments in the sport. But the now-retired Belgian mare has plenty more accolades on her resume, among them the Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva in 2017, and back-to-back wins in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Spruce Meadows (2016-2017).
Impressively, over the course of her career, Gazelle accrued a total of 18, CSI5*, CSI4*, and CSI3* grands prix wins, more than double the number earned by Farrington’s next, three, most successful mounts: Voyeur with seven, Creedance with six, and Orafina with five.
At the five-star level, alone, Gazelle’s lead jumps to three times the next-highest horse, with 13 victories compared to Voyeur’s four, Creedance’s three, and two-a-piece for Landon and Orafina.
To be sure, a horse like Gazelle often comes around only once in a generation, but Farrington currently has plenty of promising hopefuls that look ready to pick up and carry her flag (see: Toulayna, Landon, and Greya—all of whom have yet to reach their 12th birthdays).
Toulayna (with help from Greya) already has a fourth-place finish at Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Finals under her belt; Landon, team gold and individual silver medals at the 2023 Pan American Games; and Greya, a huge win this spring in the CSIO5* Rolex Grand Prix of La Baule.
In other words, count on Kent Farrington to maintain his winning ways for still many seasons to come.
Follow Kent Farrington on Jumpr!
