Swail eyes up individual Olympic place
With what he said was the eight-year-old stallion’s best result to date, the Malahide-based rider produced a double clear to finish half a second off the pace set by Britain’s Scott Brash on Bon Ami. Swail’s fellow Co Down rider Dermott Lennon placed third with Hallmark Elite.
“He’s been very consistent and is improving all the time. I’ve jumped 16 or 17 grands prix this year and he’s been clear in 13 of them,” said Swail yesterday.
“Naturally, I’m very excited about him, I really think he could be a top championship horse. Anytime I ask him new questions, he comes up with the answers.
“Toronto is his last show this year, as I’m heading to Florida. The season begins in January and he needs a little break. He’s going to have a big year in 2012 and I would hope to jump in a few of the top nations cups. I would also have in mind maybe one of the two Olympic spots with him — he has enough quality — but that will depend on whether he is ready. Florida will tell whether he’ll need another year to mature.”
Meanwhile, the reasoning behind Ireland show jumping team manager Robert Splaine’s request to the Army Equitation School to borrow a horse for Billy Twomey was given credence this week, when the Cork rider slipped to third in the Olympic rankings.
Splaine revealed in the Irish Examiner on Tuesday that the horse in question is Annestown, usually ridden by Capt David O’Brien. He feels it should be used to bolster Twomey’s string in a bid to hold onto the Olympic place.
The request, which was emailed by Splaine to the Army, has been shunted up to Defence Minister Alan Shatter.
Ireland is currently in line to take two of the three individual Olympic places on offer, based on rankings that measure the best 30 results from January to March 1 of next year. Denis Lynch has a reasonable lead at the top, but Twomey has been overtaken in second place by Portugal’s Luciana Diniz, while Spain’s Sergio Alvarez Moya is also in contention in fourth place.
Crucially, while individual riders such as Twomey and Lynch win the placings, it is Splaine who will select the horse/rider combinations he feels will best perform in the Olympics and the Army, like Swail and others, will be hoping for consideration.
Both Lynch and Twomey will bid to boost their Olympic ranking positions, plus pocket some of the riches on offer, when they compete at the lucrative final of the Global Champions Tour in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
* THERE will be live coverage of Cavan International Horse Show on Irishsport.tv, including today’s final leg of the GAIN/Alltech Autumn Grand Prix League, which has come down to a battle between Peter Smyth and Gabriel Slattery. The former has 38 points, five more than the latter.
* A “BELT AND BRACES” review of ShowjumpingIreland’s structures was the most prominent suggestion to be put forward at the association’s AGM on Monday in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
The idea came from Robert Fagan, who felt it could be examined by two board members. Chairman Christy Murphy saw merit in the suggestion.
John Curran suggested the number of representatives from each region on the executive be cut from five to three.
Murphy confirmed yesterday that “the executive will take on board any recommendations at the next meeting, on November 15”.
Understandably, there remained a residue of anger among the scant attendance at the AGM arising from the handling of the insurance issue and Murphy wisely allowed members to vent their feelings, as the majority of the association’s directors sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the stage.
Mostly, however, those present were anxious to impress on the executive that they had a responsibility to ensure the insurance debacle and the ensuing dispute with Millstreet could never happen again and Murphy conceded the SJI needed to “mend bridges”.
Ronan Corrigan’s role as a consultant to the association while also being a member of the board came in for scrutiny, but Murphy sought to quell criticism, since Corrigan was not present. The new insurance policy, with XL, will cost over €80,000 more than the one it has replaced, but, so deficient was the latter, that few could object.
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