It was Kent Farrington and 12-year-old Zangershire mare Toulayna who came out on top following the first day of action-packed show jumping competition at the 2026 FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final in Fort Worth. Two-time World Cup finalist, World #36 and hometown hero Aaron Vale, who drew the no.-1 cowboy boot during Wednesday’s Tony Llama Draw Party, and Carissimo 25 set the bar high right from the start of Thursday’s €100,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final – Competition 1, finishing clear with a swift time of 64.32.

But Farrington and Toulayna, who were 15th in the order of go, flew around Anderson de Moura Lima’s first course, popping over each fence and combination with power, agility and impressive precision and carefully navigating the inside options to shave a few tenths of a second off the clock to best out fellow U.S. rider Lillie Keenan’s 63.78 seconds, on a final time of 62.03.

Germany’s Daniel Deusser and 12-year-old stallion Otello de Guldenboom delivered a dynamite round on 61.21 seconds to take second place following Thursday’s first show jumping competition, and Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and 12-year-old gelding Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte produced a speedy, clear round to clinch third.

A true test of the horses’ speed, power and adjustability, Moura Lima’s 13-fence course started with the eight-stride Fort Worth line, with a left-hand turn to the longhorn skull fence, followed by a bending line to the burnt-orange one stride with a rollback to the pink Texas jump to the first liverpool, then on to the angel/trumpet one-stride (representing the stunning stone façade of Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall) bending line to the wide oxer, around to the third one-stride combination to the second liverpool to the Longines oxer, followed by a right turn to the Texas brick vertical, ending with a left turn the Longines vertical. Almost every fence saw rails down, especially the liverpools and the first fence of the angel/trumpet combination.

Three other U.S. riders made the top 10 following Thursday’s competition. Lillie Keenan and Kick On’s speedy round secured her a fourth-place finish; Jacob Pope was all smiles about his debut round in a World Cup™ Final aboard Highway FBH after finishing in fifth on 63.89; and Vale and Carissimo 25 landed in sixth.

World Cup™ Final Strategy Day 1

During the press conference following the first day of show jumping competition, Press Chief Marty Bauman quipped, “They say you can’t win the World Cup on day one, but you can certainly lose it.” With this in mind, current world no.-2 Farrington noted that he simply stuck to his plan going into the first day of show jumping competition.

“I just did my own routine. I thought the course today suited Toulayna decently. She’s naturally fast—so I was trying not to beat myself and put in a solid round,” he said. “I was thrilled to win, of course, but it wasn’t necessarily my plan to have the fastest time. I just did what I thought would be a competitive round without taking all the risk—and luckily that was enough to win today.”

Farrington, who owns Toulayna along with Rabbit Root Farm, said they’ve had the mare since she was 7 and he’s diligently worked to build a strong partnership with her over time.

Going into the first day of competition, Deusser said he wasn’t necessarily focused on winning the class but was hoping to finish within the top 5. “My horse isn’t naturally the fastest horse, but he has a big stride. So, for me it was important to have a smooth round and try to leave out a few strides here and there to make up some time,” he noted. “At the end, I was very delighted with second place, but it’s important to ride clear from now on and we still have two days of competition to go.”

Guerdat, who’s vying for an unprecedented fourth Jumping World Cup™ Final title, accomplished his goal of making it into the top five on day. “I was very happy with the results, but there are still a lot of fences to jump, and I have two very strong riders in front me—and a lot of strong ones behind me,” he said. “I think we’ll have a clearer picture after Friday night how things look for Sunday.”

Guerdat and Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte have steadily built their partnership together over the last three years with a number of notable wins, and the three-time World Cup™ Final winner, says he’s confident the gelding will continue his winning ways based on their close bond. “He doesn’t make a spectacle or over-jump the fences, but he’s very, very clever and is always fighting for me,” he said. “He’s so rideable and experienced enough now that I think he’ll be competitive over the next few days, so we’ll see what’s coming. But I’m confident and very grateful to have this horse in my stable.”

Guerdat noted how the World Cup™ Final has changed over the years. “It’s bigger than it was a long time ago. Now, you more or less need a grand prix horse to jump on the first day,” he said. “Riding a big course at speed is always difficult and on a course like the one we faced today, I don’t think there a place on course where you win or lose the class. With the three of us sitting up here, I don’t think there was even a second between first and third place. So, sometimes it’s just a flip of the coin on who wins with a little bit of luck that plays into it too.”

Additional U.S. Riders’ Results on Day 1

Despite having a rail down at the first fence of the angel/trumpet combination, Katie Dinan and Out of the Blue SCF finished in 12th place on 65.63. Mimi Gochman, the youngest U.S. rider in contention, and Inclen BH finished in 17th on a time of 67.52, and Kaitlin Campbell and Cosm Castlefield Cornelious finished in 18th on 67.89, after also having a rail down at the first fence of the tricky angel/trumpet combination.

Laura Kraut and Tres Biez Z had a disappointing round with rails down on multiple fences to finish in 23rd on 70.72, and Skylar Wireman and Barclino B finished in 28th place on 73.83 during their very first World Cup™ Final round.

The second day of show jumping competition takes place on Friday, April 10, with the €150,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final – Competition II at 7 p.m. in Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena. In Friday’s competition, Kent Farrington will be riding his mare Greya.

Thanks to Zoetis for our coverage of the 2026 FEI World Cup Finals. It includes lead-up events, rider interviews, competition reports, photos and more!

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Read more about our coverage of the 2026 FEI World Cup™ Finals in Forth Worth, Texas, here.