Darragh Kenny never considered himself a religious man, but in the middle of tonight’s jump-off in the Green Cove Springs CSI-W Grand Prix during the Jacksonville International he suddenly found himself converted.

Last to go in the second round today, Jan. 16, in Jacksonville, Fla., Kenny took a flier to a big triple bar leading into the last line. His partner, Trade Winds Farms’ Obelix, nearly sprouted wings to clear the fence. 

“I’m a believer after that!” he quipped. “I was over the middle of the triple bar thinking, ‘Oh, please, leave it up!’ I came around the corner, and I didn’t know what else to do, so I just kicked. He was fantastic.”

McLain Ward had set the bar high as the first clear round in both the first round and jump-off. He and his confirmed partner Phillipa managed a deceptively efficient trip, thanks to shaving a pair of tight turns around David Ballard’s track. The next five horses tried to better his time, but couldn’t manage to replicate his turns.  Casadora and Lauren Hough came closest, stopping the clock a second slower than Ward and leaving the rails in the cups for third place.

Richard Spooner, who is spending the winter on the East Coast to compete in the World Equestrian Games trials, showed the Jacksonville crowd why he earned his moniker “The Master of Faster,” by demonstrating a giant gallop down the last line aboard his first mount, Mademoiselle. Though the crowd appreciated the show, the mare swam through the oxer’s top rails to log four faults. 

Spooner’s second jump-off ride, Pariska 2, ticked a pole, as did Ole and Canadian Mac Cone. Last night’s winners, Up Chiqui and Kent Farrington, faulted at two fences to finish up in seventh.

By the time 21-year-old Kenny found his way to the in-gate, the class looked all but locked up. But the Irishman gave the crowd plenty of excitement with his Hail Mary move to the second-last fence and celebratory antics after Obelix miraculously managed to leave the rails in the cups.

“The horse is just amazing,” he raved. “Every day he goes in the ring and tries his hardest. And that makes my job easy.”

Kenny also gave plenty of credit to trainers Missy Clark and John Brennan of North Run Farm, for whom he has been working full-time since this summer. Last year was Kenny’s debut season competing in FEI World Cup qualifying classes, but his record doesn’t look like a rookie’s. Most recently the pair topped the $100,000 Budweiser World Cup Qualifier CSI-W at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Invitational Tournament (N.Y.).

This win all but seals an invitation to the FEI World Cup Final in Geneva, Switzerland, this year. “I called my mom right after the class and told her to buy a ticket,” said owner Agatha D’Ambra.

For full results from the Green Cove Springs CSI-W Grand Prix and all the action at the Jacksonville International, visit www.horseshowsonline.com.