Darragh Kenny’s Olympia got off to a splendid start with a double of victories. The Netherlands-based Irishman took the €27,000 Santa Stakes CSI 5* on Cassini Z and set an unmatchable target of 29.87 seconds during the tiebreaker.

Darragh Kenny (IRL) & Cassini Z

Kenny plans to ride the 11-year-old bay Oldenburg gelding (Cassini II x Capone) in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ on Saturday, but might consider Carlson, a new ride, in the Turkish Airlines Olympia Grand Prix on Sunday: “He’s a special horse, competitive and brave. I think he’ll be good.”

It was as close as it could have gotten since Robert Whitaker (GBR) and Catwalk (Colman x Corleone) were only one-hundredth of a second slower in the decisive phase.

The difference between the second and third place finishers was also very small since François Mathy Jr. (BEL) and Uno de La Roque (Numero Uno x Kannan) were two-hundredths of a second slower than the latter two.

Darragh Kenny (IRL) & Cassini Z during the awards ceremony