Swail sweeps to victory in American Gold Cup Qualifier

IRELAND’S Conor Swail took no prisoners at the rich American Gold Cup Qualifier in North Salem, New York tonight (Friday) when he snatched the 25,000 euro first prize with Ilan Ferder’s ten year-old mare Viva Columbia.

The Co. Down born rider had already signalled his serious intentions at the four-star show with two top five places on two different horses in yesterday’s Welcome Stakes, yielding the top spot with Martha Louise to the USA’s Abigail McArdle and Cosma by just a tenth of a second, yet also managing to capture fourth place with Susan & Ariel Grange’s mare Cita.

Tonight the 43 year-old left nothing to chance, streaking home in the World Cup qualifying class’s big 14 horse jump-off with a second in hand over  the USA’s Ali Wolff and the chestnut gelding Casall.

 Swail said afterwards: “The course suited my mare—you needed to cover a lot of ground and she’s a big mover,” Swail said. “She’s not the fastest over a jump—she’s a bit slow in the air because she’s got a lot of scope—so it worked in my favor that I was able to land and run and cover as much ground as quickly as possible.”

Ireland was also represented in 12th place by David Blake and Binkie, with Richie Moloney and Carrabis Z in 13th, both riders incurring four faults in the final round.

Conor Swail