Swail wraps up Grand Prix League in style
The Dublin-based Co Down rider had a sizeable league lead going into yesterday’s competition and, while mathematically he could be caught, he left no doubt as to his title claim, beating off a determined challenge when last to go on Knightfield Equestrian’s Conduct to take victory.
The win left him on 121 points, an unbeatable 31 more than Francis Connors, with Robert Splaine one point further adrift.
The last round takes place on Sunday in the league sponsor’s venue: Boswell Equestrian Centre, Co Wicklow.
Swail said he was confident he could win.
“Conduct can always be quick enough so all you have to do is leave all the fences up and, over the last three Boswell outings, he has had two seconds and a win. He’s unbelievably consistent,” said Swail.
Indicative of his prowess and the strength of his string, Swail progressed three to the 11-horse jump-off yesterday after 37 went to the starting line.
Third to go with Norman Allen’s Alaska, Swail set the early target when clear in 36.92 seconds. He then slotted into second spot when a fraction of a second slower on Knightfield Equestrian's Rivaal.
Cavan rider Neal Fearon, however, was not about to let Swail have it all his own way and relegated both of the league leader’s rides when stopping the clock in 35.62 on Michael Quirke’s Teuleda.
Swail, nevertheless, had the last say, steering Conduct home clear in a winning time of 35.10 seconds.
Connors faulted in the jump-off with Auto Cruz and Merlin’s Magic to go out of contention, while Splaine had one down in the first round with Clarion Hotels Coolcorron Cool Diamond.
Swail said: “When I couldn’t travel to San Patrignano in July I made it my goal to win the league, I was determined to do it but I had a lot of ground to make up because I was 40 points behind Fra Connors at that stage.
“I was worried, right up until today, that Robert Splaine might catch me. If he hadn’t been away at the World Equestrian Games over the last few weeks it could have been a different story,” he added.
* MARIE BURKE’S performance with Chippison at the World Equestrian Games last week has seen her named on the squad charged with ensuring Ireland avoids relegation in next week’s Samsung Super League final in Barcelona.
She will join fellow WEG squad members Shane Breen (World Cruise) Cian O’Connor (Irish Independent Echo Beach) and Cameron Hanley (Hippica Kerman). Capt Shane Carey (Killossery) is also in Barcelona travelling party named this week by team manager Robert Splaine.
Ireland are last in the Super League and will be relegated if that is the state of play when the competition ends on Sunday week. On 17 points, they are 2.125 adrift of Sweden. WEG gold medallists, the Netherlands, are on 21.125 points, but, with double points on offer, a prediction would be reckless in the extreme.
After Ireland finished sixth in the WEG team competition, Burke proved the sole team member to make last Saturday’s penultimate round of 25 riders bidding for the individual title.
Having lowered just one fence in three preceding rounds with Chippison — and that after the stallion threw a shoe mid-round — the Clare woman went into Saturday’s competition in 10th place.
However, she then accumulated 25 faults — five fences knocked, major trouble at the water and one time fault. She opted not to ride in the second round — with Barcelona uppermost in her mind — and was placed 24th at the end of the competition.
Jos Lansink (Cavalor Cumano) claimed the gold after a jump-off was required when three of the four riders involved in the rotation of horses had clean sheets. Before 40,000 spectators, Belgian Lansink produced the only jump-off clear to complete his games without knocking a single fence over the course of the week.
Beezie Madden (Authentic) had gold at her finger tips until the last fence and had to settle for silver, with Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Shutterfly) taking bronze.
Australia’s Edwina Alexander (Pialotta) went out of the competition during the rotation, when four-faulting with Shutterfly.
* LARAGH HAMILTON from Lisburn, Co Antrim, sprung a surprise last weekend when becoming the new national dressage champion at Cavan Equestrian Centre.
It was the biggest win of the 23-year-old’s career and came when she finished first in the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix with her 14-year-old chestnut mare Claggan Roxy Music.
Just two years out of the young rider ranks, Laragh beat experienced campaigners Anne Marie Dunphy (Heritage Egano S) and Sue Smallman (Oakengrove Ideal). She received a combined score of 62.81% from visiting judges Kerstin Holsthaus from Germany and Irish eventing team dressage coach and British World Equestrian Games team member Sandy Phillips.
Laragh, a member of the Irish young rider team at the young riders European championships in 2003 and 2004, had put down a marker when the preceding day winning the Kevin O’Sullivan sponsored Intermediaire II championship to make it a memorable weekend for the rider trained by the Limerick-based Donie McNamara.
Claggan Roxy Music, by the Irish draught stallion Rakish Paddy, also won the Airtricity Holdings award for the best performance by an Irish-bred horse at the championship. Laragh wasn’t the only rider from north of the Border in great form at Cavan, as Yvette Truesdale also scored a hat-trick of wins with the Jim Burgess’s Has to be Fun.
Defending champion and 10-times national title winner Heike Holstein missed the championships as she is due to have a baby.
The final of the silver spurs, which is aimed at finding talented riders for the future, saw Tansy Greenlee win the junior section.
Tansy qualified at Skevanish, Co Cork, and was one of 14 to compete in the junior category (ages 14-18) and, having battled it out Friday, she joined two others on Saturday in a final, in which each firstly rode a test on their own horse and then rode it two more times on their rivals’ mounts. Tansy, whose main interest is show jumping, came out tops ahead of Meath riders James Dalrymple and Katie Nolan, though all three received a €500 bursary from the Irish Horse Board.
In the pony category (age 12-16) , the award winners were, in descending order of merit, Shauna Finneran, Melanie Young and Brian Morrison. Galway girl Finneran dedicated her win to her mother Eleanor, who is recovering from a serious car accident.
The young riders (age 18-21) section was won by another show jumping interloper, Cork’s Nicola Fitzgibbon, ahead of Maria Byrne and Melanie Hamill.
This year’s €4,500 sponsorship package was the biggest in the history of a competition which has seen previous winners such as Heike Holstein and Judy Reynolds go on to compete at the highest level for Ireland.
* ALL ENTRIES at this Sunday’s annual Cork/Kerry Branch Gymkhana in Banteer will be entered in a draw for a show jumping fence worth €600.
Course designer James Tarrant is the generous provider of the prize.
The feature class will be the 1.10m final, worth €1,000. A sportsmans class is also included for novice riders, registered and unregistered.
Meanwhile, Ballyhooley Gymkhana, scheduled for Sunday, September 17, has been cancelled.
* NEW YORK-BASED Sligo rider Michael Kearins picked up $9,000 when he won the class for seven and eight-year-olds at the prestigious Hamptons Classic Horse Show last weekend.
The 23-year-old from Collooney, who has been based with Heritage Farms for about a year-and-a-half, was riding Nós na nGaoithe. The horse is by Cruising and was bred by Michael Duignan, Roscommon.
Kearins had qualified the horse for the show last January and was one 15 to progress to last Sunday’s final. Last to go, he left Patricia Griffin (US) and Rombera Quintanto (Argentina) in his wake to claim the top prize in the $30,000 class.
* CLEM MCMAHON was last Sunday crowned the new national show jumping champion, following three days of competition at the revived SJAI National Championships in Barnadown, Co Wexford.
The 29-year-old opened his account with victory in Friday’s feature class.
In Saturday’s Boswell League grand prix, the Clones rider and Hermes de Reve were last to challenge the jump-off time of 33.78 seconds set by Commandant Gerry Flynn (Mo Chroí) and clipped just under a second from the target. Harry Marshall and All Shook Up were third.
McMahon wrapped up the title race when third in Sunday’s championship grand prix on Hermes de Reve, behind winner Francis Connors (Merlin’s Magic) and Neal Fearon on (Cashmire).
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