Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui Win Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championships Presented by Equine Motorcoach
12.14.2007 - part 1
Photo by Randi Must, MustPhoto, Inc.
Story by Joanie Morris, USEF High Performance Communications Manager

Up Chiqui, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood, and Farrington have been very successful this year picking up Grand Prix wins in Florida, Kentucky and Massachusetts. It was a fitting end to the season for them to be crowned the 2007 Rolex/USEF National Champions.

“He's been incredible all year,” said Farrington, 26. “He's incredibly consistent. I've still yet to see what he can and can't do so I look forward to next year. He'd be more geared toward the World Cup Final than the Olympic Trials but it's a long way off so we'll see. He tries really hard.”

Ward lay seventh after the first round, but with Sunday afternoon's class counting for double points, Ward's clear round proved valuable. Margie Engle and Hidden Creek's Quervo Gold were third overall after jumping clear but added one time fault for finishing one-tenth of a second over the time allowed.

“I knew I dodged a bullet when Margie had a time fault,” said Ward about avoiding the jump-off. “It's not very often to win big class without a jump-off. This course was considerably more difficult than Friday's. It was more technical and considerably bigger. Today was real grand prix jumping and the good combinations rose to the top.

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