Darragh Kenny and Dakota VDL (Sportfot)

Wellington, Fla. - The $15,000 Adequan® Six-Year-Old Young Jumper Classic was the first class in the International Arena at PBIEC on Friday with a win for Darragh Kenny (IRL) and Hyperion Stud LLC's Dakota VDL. The six-year-old Holsteiner stallion (Casall x Contender) was purchased from VDL Stud two years ago for the highest bid of $210,000 at the 2012 WEF Sport Horse Auction in Wellington. Kenny started riding the horse this year in the middle of January and showed throughout the winter at the 1.30m level.

In Friday's six-year-old classic, the pair topped a class of 63 entries where 26 advanced to the jump-off. They had the fastest time of 34.60 seconds out of 11 double clear rounds. Sloane Coles and The Windwood Group's WEC Damokles finished second in 35.25 seconds. Alex Granato (USA) guided Page Tredennick's Calchen W to third place honors in 35.28 seconds, and Darrin Dlin (CAN) and Susan Grange's Tienna placed fourth in 35.70 seconds.

"He is really a special horse," Kenny praised. "He was already jumping the 1.30m easy. He basically did not do any of the six-year-old classes all winter because we wanted to jump him a little bit bigger. He has huge scope, and he is very careful. He is very, very competitive and today he was super."

"He is super easy," the rider added. "There is nothing difficult about him. He doesn't spook, he has loads of jump, he is very careful and easy to ride. It is an easy thing to go in and try to win a class like this on him. He makes my life very easy, so that's nice. The idea is to just keep building him up and see where he goes. I think he has all the ability to be a top horse."

Kenny commented on the course, stating, "I thought it was very good. It was a little technical and a little spooky, which was good. The good horses ended up at the top and that was the right way to do it."

Kenny and Dakota VDL had an impressive round through D'Ambrosio's short course to conclude their FTI WEF circuit with a win, and Kenny looks forward to furthering the horse's potential when they show together again in Canada this summer.

"I think actually on Monday he is going to leave to go back to Hyperion Stud in Virginia to start breeding," Kenny noted. "He will do a lot of breeding for April and some of May and then he will come to Spruce Meadows for me to jump. He will keep breeding for the future and then we will keep showing him and see where it goes."

Final Results: $15,000 Adequan® Six-Year-Old Young Jumper Classic
1. DAKOTA VDL DARRAGH KENNY HYPERION STUD LLC: 0/0/34.607
2. WEC DAMOKLES SLOANE COLES THE WINDWOOD GROUP: 0/0/35.251
3. CALCHEN W ALEX GRANATO PAGE TREDENNICK: 0/0/35.281
4. TIENNA DARRIN DLIN SUSAN GRANGE: 0/0/35.708
5. DIVA CHRISTIAN COYLE DECLAN ORPEN: 0/0/36.392
6. IMERALD VAN'T VOORHOF CODY AUER SARAH RYAN: 0/0/36.684
7. LAVITTO Z MAGGIE MCALARY MAGGIE MCALARY: 0/0/36.942
8. ABBEY ROAD NICOLE SHAHINIAN-SIMPSON SILVER RAVEN FARMS: 0/0/37.110
9. CUMANA JUAN ORTIZ JUAN ORTIZ: 0/0/37.206
10. DANNEMORA HAYLEY BARNHILL BARNHILL LLC: 0/0/38.179
11. CONTINA R MARKUS BEERBAUM MICHAELS & BEERBAUM GMBH: 0/0/41.908
12. HOLLIS MATTHEW METELL WOLVER HOLLOW: 0/4/33.871