Irish riders completed the 11th week of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida in winning form, with Galway’s Stephen Moore taking the lead in the $50,000 Cabana Coast two-star Grand Prix, while Offaly’s Darragh Kenny claimed victory in the $50,000 Captive One Advisors 1.50m Grand Prix at the same venue.

Moore was last to go in a seven horse jump-off aboard Vlock Show Stables’ Team-owned De Coquerie. The combination jumped clear in a winning time of 40.81 seconds.

“We’ve been building up for a few weeks for this class,” explained Moore, who has been riding De Coquerie for the last year.

“This is his second two-star Grand Prix of the season; we started slowly. He jumped good in the qualifier and had one down that kept us out of the jump-off.

“In the first round today, we got lucky in a few spots and had a few rubs, but he’s always so fast.

“In the jump-off we were last to go, and I knew the ones that were ahead of me were quite quick, but he’s so fast and turns well so I just had to let him do his thing and hope that his foot speed would be fast enough.”

Moore has been riding De Coquerie for the last year.

Irish young rider Max Wachman finished sixth in this class with Ikaros, while Simon McCarthy took seventh place with Gotcha.

Kenny leads the way

Another Irish win came at the same venue on Sunday evening when Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and the Morning Star Sporthorses, LLC-owned Vertige De Galarzacs claimed top spot in the $50,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Grand Prix.

Six combinations qualified for the jump-off, where Kenny who is the current overall leader of the CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Classic Series, proved once again why he’s at the top, landing the win aboard the 12-year-old gelding when he crossed the line in 36.01 seconds.

“I didn’t jump him in any classes this week,” said Kenny of the winning gelding.

“I just went straight into the Grand Prix so he was a little bit more fresh. “He jumped excellent and felt fantastic. He’s just a really, really nice horse.

“He was jumping really well so I didn’t have to worry about that so much,” continued Kenny.

Last Friday at the same venue, Cork native Shane Sweetnam claimed victory on board Indra van de Oude Heihoef in the $37,000 Bainbridge Companies 1.45m Classic.

Sweetnam and Indra van de Oude Heihoef, who is owned by The Blue Buckle Group, shaved almost a full second off the leading time when fifth to go in the jump-off.