Eventer Berry on podium at Bicton, with plenty other big wins for show jumpers
The Irish always seem to feel at home in Italy and even in the type of heat that we are not accustomed, it proved the case again in the past few days as Tom Wachman, Jordan Coyle and Denis Lynch all bagged five-star show jumping triumphs in Rome.
Meanwhile, in eventing, Susie Berry was third in the individual standings in the four-star Nations Cup class at Bicton International Horse Trials.
It was Lynch that started the five-star winning thread in The Eternal City, edging out his former chef d’équipe, Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) when steering Conterno-Blue PS (owned by Alejandro Martin del Campo) to victory in the five-star Winning Round class at Piazzi di Siena on Thursday morning (above).
The Tipperary town athlete is a dual winner of the Rome Grand Prix and also a Nations Cup at this illustrious show, and he and his 12-year-old posted a second clear round in a time of 39.27, to finish marginally ahead of Pessoa and Giorgio d’Ellipse, who stopped the clock at 39.50, atop a field of 53.
“It was a good course for an opening round, and it’s always a pleasure to come to Piazza di Siena,” said Lynch afterwards. “The fact that I’ve been a regular here for at least twenty years proves it… It’s always great to compete for your country, and that’s why we’re here. Anything extra is obviously welcome.”
Lynch would later steer Vistogrand (Lynch/Tipperary’s Finest) to seventh in the 1.45m two-phase class, where fellow Tipp rider, Tom Wachman was the leading Irish representative on Kilkenny (Susan Magnier) in fourth.
Lynch propelled former Rome Grand Prix hero Brooklyn Heights (Molly Ohrstrom) to fifth in the 1.50m speed class, closely followed by Wachman and Do It Easy (Coolmore Showjumping) and Cian O’Connor with Gospel Tame (Ronnoco Jump).
Wachman warmed up for his Nations Cup participation with a runner-up finish in the five-star 1.55m speed class with Ita Brennan-bred Irish Sport Horse Kilkenny (Susan Magnier) on Friday morning.
Jack Whitaker (GBR) was in the lead with Izara Des Dames, the scion of the famed British show jumping dynasty having set an impossible task to those coming in his wake by going clear in 66.57.
Wachman and his 14-year-old gelding were fourth-last into the arena and they were electric, leaving all 15 jumps intact and stopping the clock in 68.04, which did not threaten the victor but was a clear second in a high-class field of 52.
On Saturday, Jordan Coyle and Wachman secured a second and third individual five-star triumph for the Green Jackets, putting the disappointment of the previous day’s Nations Cup performance behind them, when Ireland (with a team comprising Lynch, Coyle, Wachman and O’Connor) fell from the silver medal position to eighth in the second round.
With 14 jumps on a 450m track, the morning’s 1.45m speed class was going to be blink-and-you miss it stuff for the 41 combinations.
To that end, being sixth to enter the arena is not normally an advantage, but Coyle had it all figured out and King Kannan GP (Elan Farm) relishes the nippy turns required (below).
It was the Ardmore native’s Piazza de Siena debut and he certainly marked it in the best possible manner, his standard of 55.60 never being truly threatened, with Christian Ahlmann (GER) getting closest on Vivario JL Z, in 56:16.
In the afternoon, Wachman – like Coyle a debutant at this prestigious show – and Do it Easy (Coolmore Showjumping) added to their roll of honour by scoring in the day’s feature, the 1.55m jump-off class, in which O’Connor was also fourth with Gospel Tame (Ronnoco Jump).
A baker’s dozen participated in the jump-off so there was no question of just going clear a second time and hoping for the best. You had to go for it.
And that is what Wachman did, propelling Do It Easy (above) to an incredibly fast time of 35.95 seconds that proved unbeatable for his closest rivals, including France’s Nina Mallevaey, who came second with the David Prentice-bred My Clementine (ISH) on 36.26 seconds), and Germany’s Richard Vogel, who came third with Cloudio (36.58 seconds).
“It was a good course,” Wachman noted. “It was quite difficult, quite delicate. It took plenty of jumping, so I was delighted with my horse today. It’s my first time here. It’s an amazing show, very rich in history and tradition. The grass ring is unbelievable. I’m so delighted to be here.”
Meanwhile, Conor Swail continued his red-hot streak by adding bringing his tally of international successes at Thunderbird Show Park to seven in a week and half.
After four triumphs the previous week – three at four-star and one at two – the Darragh Cross man secured another four-star victory on Wednesday night Irish time in Langley, and added a couple of two-star triumphs including the Grand Prix.
In addition, Swail was acting chef d’équipe of a very inexperienced Nations Cup team last night (Sunday) that finished fourth of five countries in a bid for a fourth title in five renewals. The boss was joined by fellow Down pilot Lorcan Gallagher, Abbeyleix’s James Chawke and Dylan Daly from Tralee, and posted a double clear with the Brian Duff-bred Irish Sport Horse Clonterm Obolensky (Oliver Glancy).
The team began the second round in contention but unfortunately fell away in the heat, with only three counting scores as Gallagher did not return to the arena on Copycat, having had a refusal at the water in the opening round.
Swail began the Maple Leaf show by steering steered Casturano, owned by Conall Murray’s Mannon Farm, to four-star glory in the 1.50m speed class, recording a clear in 62.03, which was 1.69 seconds faster than home athlete Braden James, with Kannandine (above).
“The nice thing about last week, obviously, is I had four wins, but there were four different horses,” Swail said. “And now this is five wins on five different horses. I’m very, very proud of that. I have a nice group of horses here, and they’re in good form.”
Luckily, the beloved Stan is an unflappable horse as it could have gone very wrong and there would have been nothing the man in the stirrups could have done about it.
“I could see the crow just sitting on the grass behind (fence one),” Swail recounted. “Usually they sit on the wings, and the horses don’t seem to mind as much because they’re up high. But this one was behind the jump. I’m about a stride away, and the old crow knows I’m coming—the thing pops up!”
Casturano didn’t turn a hair and it was plain sailing from there.
“I got neatly over to the Liverpool, which caused a bit of trouble because it was in a big shadow there. Some of the horses, including my first one (Nadal Hero & DB), struggled with it. But I thought it was nice and smooth everywhere. I’m very happy with him because he had a quieter week last weekend.
“It definitely helps when all the horses are feeling good, and I am feeling good about it as well. They’re confident, and I’m riding with confidence.”
Canada’s Gavin Moylan brought a temporary halt to Swail’s gallop, though the Down native was best of the rest in Thursday night’s 1.45m jump-off class with one of last week’s winners, the aforementioned Nadal Hero & DB (Mannon Farm, pictured below).
The 12-year-old was competing at much lower heights for Swail’s wife, Samantha van der Woude-Swail until last week’s victory but showed that it was no fluke and that he will not be returning to that sphere, by holding the lead with a time of 33.56 in the jump-off until Moylan entered the Fort Grand Prix Arena with Anton 869, to wrest the advantage away from the venue’s dominant rider.
Swail was back in the winner’s enclosure very quickly however, securing a sixth international class in just over a week in Langley and a second two-star at consecutive Tbird shows with the progressive Kazelli VDL (Chandler Meadows), claiming the Grand Prix qualifier with a double clear and a tiebreak time of 40.44 seconds.
And the duo returned less than 24 hours later to add the Uyradis Village Grand Prix itself, with more than a second and a half to spare from American Karrie Rufer and the Anthony Smyth-bred Shanroe Peeters (ISH) in the jump-off.
Swail and his 11-year-old mare delivered a double-clear performance that pushed his win tally to seven in less than two weeks, including three aboard the powerful Dutch Warmblood mare.
“This ring suits her. She’s got a big gallop and she’s very careful,” Swail said. “She has such a huge stride and she was jumping everything very comfortably. I thought there was eight (strides to the double), which I knew no one else would do. Honestly, if I was making the decision again, I wouldn’t do it. The mare was very good to clear A and B, and I thought it was a little too risky. She jumped beautifully in both rounds.”
There was more Irish success at the four-star Devon Horse Show in Pennsylvania, with Shane Sweetnam victorious in the Idle Dice Open Stake class in the early hours of Sunday morning with Pegina VD Bisschop (Sweetnam & Voquest).
Only six combinations were back for the decider after a testing opening examination and the luck of the draw certainly fell in the Corkman’s favour as he was last into the Dixon Arena with his 11-year-old chestnut mare.
Daniel Bluman (ISR) had the top two places sewn up at this point, in the lead with a clear round in 37.49 with Gemma W but while it might not have seemed like it at the time, he had left plenty of margin.
Sweetnam had the horse to capitalise, grabbing the $54,600 first prize with a clear full of fast turns and lightning quick across the ground to stop the timers in 36.24.
At Cabourg’s four-star show in France, Trevor Breen was third with Konrad Obolensky (Heather Black & Ian Black) in a 1.45m jump-off class on Saturday, their time of 26.16 in the decisive round just over a second more than that recorded by the winners, Matthew Sampson (GBR) with the Michael Kelly-bred Irish Sport Horse, Latte Macchiato.
There was a notable win too for Simon McCarthy in the two-star IDA Development Grand Prix in Wilmington, Ohio, with his own Narcotique V/H Dingenshof.
The triumph was a welcome boost for the Cork native, after he announced the death of his star mare Gotcha earlier this month.
Meanwhile, in eventing, fortune did not smile on Ireland in a team context as they finished fourth of four at Bicton International Horse Trials in Sam Griffiths’ first competition as Horse Sport Ireland’s eventing high performance manager.
Only two riders were able to provide scoring contributions come Sunday’s concluding cross-country phase in the four-star class, as Molly O’Neill and Pádraig McCarthy had their aspirations concluded prematurely, but Susie Berry and Danielle McCormack would have been buoyed by their efforts.
In particular, Berry cemented a consistently high-class performance throughout the three days by finishing third in the individual rankings with Irish Sport Horse John The Bull (Caroline Berry & Helen Caton), bred in Westmeath by James Byrne (below).
The pair held the silver medal position after a brilliant dressage test that yielded just 29.4 penalties and maintained that after going clear in the show jumping arena.
And while the Banbridge athlete and her 15-year-old son of Luidam dropped one position after the cross-country, there were no jumping errors. It is indicative of how difficult the time allowed was on the course that the 14 time faults only dropped the pair one spot. Indeed the 5.6 registered by Briton Kirsty Chabert and Classic VI saw them leapfrog to the very top of the table for the individual success.
It was a brilliant concluding leg for Danielle McCormack and the Pádraig McCarthy-bred Irish Sport Horse MGH Hildare Harlequin (Anna Sims Hilditch) too, the pair vaulting up the leaderboard with no jumping errors and 12 time faults, in what was one of the best rounds of the day.
The first two days had been difficult for McCormack but she displayed outstanding mental fortitude, and her inexperienced nine-year-old tremendous athleticism and scope, to bounce back and produce one of the best rounds of the day on Sunday, offering significant promise for the future.
BREEDING
KILKENNY (ISH) – 2012 gelding by Cardento (HOLST) out of MHS Pembrook Lady (ISH) by Guidam (SF). Breeder: Ita Brennan, Co. Kilkenny. Owner: Susan Magnier. Rider: Max Wachman (IRL).
MY CLEMENTINE (ISH) – 2015 ch mare by Obos Quality 004 (OLDBG) out of Qualisca de Vansichant (SBS) by Kashmir van Schuttershof (SBS). Breeder: David Prentice, Co Down. Owner: Rein Family. Rider: Nina Mallevaey (FRA)
CLONTERM OBOLENSKY (ISH) – 2016 stallion by Cornet Obolensky (BWP) out of She Has The Lux (ISH) by Lux Z (HANN). Breeder: Brian Duff, Ashbourne, Co. Meath. Owner: Oliver Raymond Glancy. Rider: Conor Swail (IRL).
SHANROE PEETERS (ISH) – 2014 gelding by Dallas VDL (BWP) out of Shanroe Sapphire (ISH) by Condios (HOLST). Breeder: Anthony Smyth, Co Down. Owner: Kevin Jochems & S. Kenis Sporthorses BV. Rider: Kevin Jochems (NED).
LATTE MACCHIATO (ISH) – 2013 gelding by Pacino (BWP) out of Torboy Lady (ISH)(TIH) by Boherdeal Clover (ISH)(TIH). Breeder: Michael Kelly, Co. Longford. Owner: HMF Equestrian. Rider: Matthew Sampson (GBR).
JOHN THE BULL (ISH) – 2011 gelding by Luidam (KWPN) out of Think About It (TB) by Houmayoun (TB). Breeder: James Byrne, Co Westmeath. Owners: Caroline Berry & Helen Caton. Rider: Susie Berry (IRL)
MGH HILDARE HARLEQUIN (ISH) – 2017 Gelding by Firkov Du Rouet (KPWN) out of Fair Dinkum II (AEAS) by Luidam (KWPN). Breeder: Pádraig McCarthy, Co Tipperary. Owner: Anna Sims Hilditch. Rider: Danielle McCormack (IRL).