Descartes SR and the Farrington Formula

Kent Farrington has a habit of finding them early. Greya, Gazelle, Toulayna, Creedance and Myla were all rated among the best of their generation at nine. Most of them went on to win the biggest Grand Prix classes in the sport.

Descartes SR is the latest. A podium finish in the MLSJ Grand Prix of Greenwich on 27 September made him the highest-rated nine-year-old in the world. The question now is how far he can go.

Top of his age group

Nobody in his generation is closer than Mckayla Langmeier's Riesling van de Gaathoeve, 10 points behind. The two Americans have a clear gap on a strong German group led by Philipp Weishaupt and Lady Concern du Rezidal.

Five-star from the first start

Descartes SR did not need long to find his level. His first five-star 1.60m class was the MLSJ Grand Prix at Lexington in April. He jumped clear and won it. A week later he was on the podium again in Monterrey.

Summer in Europe was a sterner test. He jumped clear in the first round of the Falsterbo Nations Cup, had a fence down in the second and helped his team to third. Two weeks later he retired in the King George V Gold Cup at Hickstead.

Back in North America he picked up where he left off, second at Rockwood in early September and second again at Greenwich three weeks later.

The Farrington Formula

Go back through the best nine-year-old ratings since 2010 and Farrington's name keeps coming up. Six of his horses are in the top 100. Descartes SR sits level with Gazelle, just behind Creedance, Toulayna, Myla and Greya.

Gazelle is the reminder that the rating at nine only tells part of the story. She never climbed as high on the Elo scale as Greya or Toulayna. She still won more five-star Grand Prix classes than any of them, the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen in 2019 among them.

Greya and Toulayna came through together as nine-year-olds in 2023. Three years on, both are rated higher than ever, and have a World Cup Final title to show for it.

The Benchmark

For Descartes SR, the horse to measure himself against is in his own stable. Greya was rated just above him at nine. She has kept climbing ever since and is now the highest-rated of Farrington's six, a Rolex Grand Prix winner in Geneva with a dozen five-star wins behind her.

Elo ratings and nine-year-old rankings correct after the CSI5* Greenwich Grand Prix on 27 September 2026. Clear rates and wins shown at CSI5* 1.60m level. Top 100 nine-year-old ratings cover 2010 to 2026.