Sweetnam and Swail earn podium finishes in Florida
The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping team began their EEF Series campaign with a podium performance in the Belgian city of Lier on Friday.
Michael Blake’s team of Billy Twomey, from Cork, with Jumping Jack van de Kaleva, Kilkenny rider Seamus Hughes Kennedy with ESI Rocky (ISH), Tyrone pilot Niamh McEvoy with Jargon DN and the manager’s fellow Clareman, Eoin McMahon with Cornest, performed excellently to land yet another podium, with all four team members jumping clear rounds.
A final total of eight faults meant the Irish were only beaten for second on time, giving way to Britain, with Portugal landing the spoils on a perfect score.
Blake’s team were well in touch at the break on a score of four faults and only one more pole down in the second round meant it was a fine effort that delivered the podium finish.
In individual competition, there were two Irish podium finishes at the beginning of the third week of the Spring Series at Wellington International, with another Corkonian, Shane Sweetnam taking second in the three-star FEI Grand Prix Qualifier on Thursday night and Conor Swail, from Down, filling third spot in the FEI 1.45m Classic earlier today.
Sweetnam was riding Coriaan van Klapscheut Z, a very talented nine-year-old gelding he co-owns with Voquest LLC. They entered the Village Equestrian Derby Field mid-way through the cast of 53 participants and in the end, were part of a cohort of three Irish combinations to reach the jump-off in the 1.50m class.
Sweetnam’s young horse showed impressive pace and accuracy to stop the clock on 41.16 for the runner-up berth.
Venezuela’s Luis Fernando Larazzabal took the spoils for the second time in 24 hours in the Florida arena, steering his Paris Olympics mount, Condara to a second clear round in 40.08 seconds. That pair would go on to secure another feature at the end of the week with Larazzabal remarkably claiming the big pots from Wednesday to Saturday inclusive.
Home favourite, Laura Kraut was third with Emeraldo 4, just edging Blake and McMahon’s Clare compatriot, Philip McGuane and Orphea HQ out of the podium by 0.14 of a second.
Paul O’Shea, from Co Limerick, was last into the jump-off on board Primo CBI Cornet but had one rail down, in a very fast time of 41.08, earning him seventh place dividends.
On Friday, Swail secured third with One Edition, the ten-year-old mare owned by Vanessa Mannix.
It was Larazzabal on the top step once more, completing a feature hat-trick on consecutive days, this time with his Wednesday winner, Belle De Muze. They were convincing victors in the speed class, going clear in 61.05 but there wasn’t much between the next group of riders, with Swail and One Edition stopping the clock on 64.01.
Swail also took a significant share of prize money from the $120,000 three-star Palm Beach County Sports Commission Grand Prix at the Florida arena.
Riding Casturano, the 12-year-old gelding owned by Conall Murray, the Irish pair took fourth behind the all-conquering Larrazabal.
The Venezuelan and Condara, registered a tie-breaker time of 40.30 seconds that was more than two seconds faster than the runner-up, Chris Pratt (CAN) could manage with Ideaal Es.
Swail and Casturano have won countless speed classes and while not able to top the ladder on this occasion, their jump-off time of 43.09 proved competitive.
On the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour, Jessica Burke posted two top-five finishes at three-star level over the weekend.
On Saturday, the ultra-consistent combination of Jessica Burke, from Galway, and the Liam Nicholas-owned-and-bred Express Trend (ISH) just missed out on the podium at the Trofeo Oliva Nova Beach & Golf Resort.
The Irish pair were among 14 combinations going clear in the first round of the 1.45m three-star competition on the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour in Las Palmas and went clear again in the jump-off in 36.15 seconds to finish fourth. Victory went to Britain’s Matthew Sampson, with Ebolensky.
On Sunday, Burke steered Good Star du Bary to fifth in the Trofeo CHG, the 1.50m Grand Prix.
Once more, a large number of pairings qualified for the jump-off and Burke stopped the clock on 40.44 while leaving all the obstacles intact. The local Spanish supporters celebrated victory, thanks to the efforts of Teresa Blazquez-Abascal and Nasa de Toxandria.
Also at three-star level, Carlow athlete Jason Foley and Chedington Hazy Toulana jumped a double clear in `the Lier Grand Prix to garner sixth position in an outstanding 1.55m test won Niels Fockaert (BEL), with Chacco Me Biolley, and Gilles Thomas completing a home 1-2 on Qalista DN.
BREEDING
ESI ROCKY (ISH) 2015 – gelding by Stakkato Gold (HANN) out of Clonaslea (BWP) by For Pleasure (HANN). Breeder: Ennisnag Stud. Owner: Clare Hughes. Rider: Seamus Hughes-Kennedy (IRL).
EXPRESS TREND (ISH) – 2010 gelding by Future Trend (OLD) out of Condios Express (ISH) by Condios (HOLST). Breeder and owner: Liam Nicholas. Rider: Jessica Burke (IRL).