Horse & Hound – 22 August 2019

A

PICTUREofDarraghKenny

beingembracedbyhisgirlfriend,

fellowshowjumperJessica

Mendoza,onherInstagram

pageis poignantlycaptioned:

“Momentslikethese.”Darraghhadjustlanded

theLonginesGlobalChampionsTourGrand

PrixofChantillyinFranceinJuly—hissecond

five-stargrandprixwininjusttwoweeksanda

ticketfortheSuperGrandPrixinPrague—so

it wasa bigmomentworthdocumenting.

Butalsomomentouswasthefactthatthe

twoofthemwereinthesameplace,onthe

sameweekend.Thisis a couplewhosetravel

logisticsareexhaustinglycomplicated.After

Darragh’swininChantilly,there was no leeway

Witha flurryofwinsanda spotattheEuropeanShowjumpingChampionships,

2019 is turning into a bumperyearfortheIrishman,findsMadeleineSilver

forcelebrations,despiteit markingsomething

ofa turningpointinhiscareer.

“I’vehada successfulenoughcareersofar,

butnotreallyinfive-stargrandsprix.Thelast

fewweekshavechangedthat.Itmademesure

Icoulddoit,”hesays.

The31-year-oldwasstraightbackto

KnokkeinBelgium,wherehewasjumping

thefollowingday,atthesameseasidespothe’d

clinchedthegrandprixtwoweekspreviously.

AndwhenwemeetinAachenattheendof

July,Jessicais morethan1,000milesaway

jumpingata showinA Coruña,Spain.

“Itgetskindofcomplicatedattimes,butwe

seemtobeabletomanageit prettywell,”says

Darragh, whose soft Irish accent is still intact

aftermorethana decadelivingabroad.“Idid

havea monthearlierthisyearwhereI went

fromNewYorktoShanghaitoKentuckytoLa

BauleandthentoSpruceMeadows—there

werea lotoftimedifferences...”

Addintothemixthetwobases—inFlorida

aswellasMeijelintheNetherlands,wherehis

businessOaklandStablesis based—andthe

chancesofanorganisationalerrorarehigh.

“I’mnotoriousforleavingmypassportin

thewrongplace.Therehavebeena lotoftimes

whenfriendsora taxihavehadtodriveit to

theairportforme,”helaughs.

ButDarragh’spathtothetopofhissport

hasbeencarvedwithconsiderably more care

than his airport dashes.

Darragh Kenny

THE INTERVIEW ‘Itmademesure

I coulddoit,’says

DarraghKennyof

hisbraceofgrand

prixwinsinasmany

weeks,duereward

for anexhausting

schedule

22 Horse& Hound22 August 2019