Week 9 Wraps the Five-Star Build-Up to the Rolex US Equestrian Open
Three five-star weekends with three different winners. As riders builds toward the $750,000 Rolex US Equestrian Open CSI5* Grand Prix on March 28, the storyline is coming into focus; a battle of the US against the rest.
Three of the four five-star 5* 160 Grand Prix weekends at the 2026 Winter Equestrian Festival are done. Three different winners with three different stories; Richard Vogel & Gangaster Montdesir Week 5, McLain Ward & High Star Hero at Week 7, and now Darragh Kenny with Edddy Blue in Week 9. All of them pointed the same direction: March 28th for the $750,000 Rolex US Equestrian Open CSI5* Grand Prix.
Saturday night's $500,000 Bainbridge Companies CSI5* Grand Prix produced nine clear rounds from 39 starters - a demanding night's work over Alan Wade's course. The Irishman, appointed as course designer for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, built a track that found plenty of answers. Nine horses gave the right ones.
The Winner: Darragh Kenny & Eddy Blue
Darragh Kenny had been second and third at WEF before but never first... until Saturday night. The Irish Olympian and Eddy Blue, a 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Eldorado vd Zeshoek TN x Chacco-Blue) owned by Carol A. Sollak, went penultimate in the jump-off and stopped the clock at 41.77 seconds. It proved unbeatable, securing their second 5* 1.60m victory after their win in the London World Cup in 2024.
Kenny left a stride out in the first line and got away with it because of the carefulness of the horse underneath him. That combination of boldness and reliability is exactly what the Week 12 final will require. Kenny has his eyes on an Irish team spot at the FEI World Championships in Aachen in August but the road to Aachen runs through Wellington first.
The Jump-Off: A Shared Podium and a Statement from the USA
The jump-off opened with Marilyn Little and La Contessa setting a target of 41.92 seconds as the pathfinder. It was La Contessa's fifth consecutive clear at the level but the pair's first ever 5* Grand Prix podium together. That is a meaningful form line heading into Week 12.
Six riders later, Australian Thaisa Erwin matched Little's time exactly aboard Hialita B to share second in a dead heat - the first five-star WEF podium for an Australian since 2010. Alongside Kenny, both Little and Erwin confirmed in the press conference that their next target will be the Rolex US Equestrian Open CSI5* Grand Prix.
Laura Kraut and Bisquetta were fourth, Jonathan McCrea fifth; both double-clear. Six of the world's top ten were in the field. The depth was real.
The US Picture: Depth Is the Differentiator
Three five-star weekends in and the US case for keeping the Open title on home soil has been built less around one dominant combination and more around sheer depth.
McLain Ward won Week 7. Lillie Keenan has won with two different horses this circuit. Marilyn Little is now on a serious clear streak at five-star 160 with La Contessa. Laura Kraut and Jonathan McCrea jumped double-clear on Saturday. And then there is Kent Farrington, world number two, who hasn't featured so much in the weekly results but whose name on the start list at Week 12 will reshape the field and predictions.
Farrington had four faults in Round 1 at Week 9 with Greya, finishing 11th. It changes nothing about what they are capable of in a jump-off. Their five-star 160 jump-off record remains extraordinary: nine wins and 11 podium finishes from 15 appearances. Greya's EquiRatings Elo is closing in on the all-time US record set by HH Azur. When they canter into the ring on March 28, they walk in with serious expectations
The International Challenge Is Real
The international field is not making up the numbers. Kenny's win on Saturday was the second 5* Grand Prix at WEF won by a non-US rider this season. Vogel took Week 5. Ward interrupted at Week 7. Kenny resumed the sequence at Week 9.
Vogel will arrive at Week 12 with Gangster Montdesir carrying a 100% clear rate from five five-star starts. Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz have converted 18 podium finishes from 21 jump-off appearances at this level - a stat that still reads like a typo the more you look at it. And France's Nina Mallevaey arrives carrying a 12-consecutive-clear-round streak with Dynastie de Beaufour - one clear away from equalling Nick Skelton and Big Star's achievement of 13.
Dynastie de Beaufour is currently rated 779 on the EquiRatings Elo - sixth in the world, the top-ranked French horse in the database currently. Mallevaey is seventh on the Longines FEI World Rankings and the highest-ranked female rider.. Week 12 will be their third appearance at WEF. The first two produced a third place and a fifth. They will be ones to watch.
Two and a half weeks remain. The field is taking shape.
Listen to Annie and Diarm review WEF Week 9 on this week's episode of the US Equestrian Open Podcast
