Sweetnam adds another victory to US tally with Wellington win

CORK’S Shane Sweetnam kept up his recent sparking form in US show jumping with a win last night (Wednesday) in the opening speed competition of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.

Competing at the start of the seventh week of the festival the Irish rider,with Spy Coast Farm’s stallion Cyklon, added to two previous speed victories with the same horse in the third and fifth weeks of the four-star show in Wellington.

Fifth to go last night from a field of 85, Sweetnam and Spy Cyklon nevertheless set an unbeatable pace of 59.10 seconds.

Afterwards Sweetnam commented: “”He felt great today. The last class I did with him he won two weeks ago, and he had last week off, so he felt fresh. I was early to go and I wasn’t really sure if my time would hold the whole way because you know when you go early in this class, there are a lot of good riders and good horses, so I was very happy today at the end to still be on top.”

“It’s nice to watch to know what you have to do,” he noted. “The last class that I won I was later to go, so I knew exactly what I had to do, where this one I am really taking chances and risks and sometimes they don’t come off. You can be a little bit more careful if you are later in the class, but my plan didn’t really change. I would have probably still had to do the same as what I did to win the class.”

Sweetnam and Cyklon have been a winning partnership for two years now with top finishes around the world.