Sweetnam and Gizmo go close in Hamptons
Fury unleashed by McAuley as Breen, Corrigan and O’Connor also perform strongly
Olympic partners, Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (ISH) just missed out on a famous transatlantic victory, when posting a second five-star runner-up finish in 48 hours in the $400,000 Hampton Classic Grand Prix last night (Sunday).
The dynamic duo had also been the bridesmaids in the Grand Prix Qualifier in Bridgehampton, New York, 48 hours earlier, when Jonathan Corrigan was just behind on the podium having also recorded an outstanding double clear with Darius de Kerglenn.
This came in a week where Trevor Breen posted three top-five finishes at the five-star Brussells Stephex Masters and also jumped clear in the Nations Cup, securing fifth in the Rolex Grand Prix with clear round machine Highland President, and third and fourth with Konrad Obolensky in two other classes. Cian O’Connor also secured a five-star podium finish with Canbella Blue PS.
Also, there was a landmark victory for Mark McAuley in Gijon, with a first at four-star level for Fury Nocturne just four weeks after the duo had bagged a three-star double in Samorin, while back in New York, Conor O’Regan was victorious in two-star competition with Manchester at the HITS Hudson Valley Show in Saugerties.
The Hampton Classic Horse Show celebrated its 50th anniversary by putting more than $1m up for grabs and a huge chunk of that was up on offer in the feature on Sunday night.
And Sweetnam and Connolly Stud Farm’s most famous graduate (pictured below) made a bold bid to leave the illustrious venue with most of that.
The fabulous pair, who were third in the Rolex Grand Prix of Ireland at the Dublin Horse Show, registered one of only three clear rounds in the fiendishly difficult 1.60m class, Kristen Vanderveen (USA) being the first to pass the test on Bull Run’s Jireh, before Briton Jessica Mendoza went clear on In The Air.
Sweetnam and Gizmo Partners’ gallant grey completed the jump-off field and had the advantage of knowing exactly what they needed to do in the tie-breaker, with Mendoza going clear in a time of 37.34. They gave it a good shot but unfortunately, it was a second silver medal of the week, as they stopped the clock on 37.90.
“I was very happy with my horse,” Sweetnam said afterwards. “He’s a very different horse (from Jessica’s). He spends a bit of time in the air and is a bit of a slower horse, so I did my plan close enough to what I thought would be enough to challenge. He jumped great. In hindsight, I could have taken a few more gambles.”
Earlier in the week, it looked as if Gizmo and his Cork rider would take the lion’s share of the funds on offer for the five-star Grand Prix Qualifier but they were denied by the final horse-and-rider combination into the Grand Prix Ring, high-flying American, McLain Ward with High Star Hero.
Only six survived the initial test of 16 jumping efforts on the 1.60m course. None of them knocked a rail in the jump-off.
That made speed of the absolute essence and it was Meath native Corrigan that secured third with a time of 38.39, while Sweetnam improved on that with his great grey stopping the clock in 37.51.
It was Ward that took all the marbles however, dipping under 37 seconds with a time of 36.84 to add to his tally of top-tier triumphs.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Breen and Highland President were fifth in the five-star Rolex Grand Prix in Brussells.
The €100,000 Audi and €65,000 cash for first went to France’s Nina Mallevaey with Dynastie de Beaufour but a tremendous double clear by Breen and the 13-year-old gelding owned by Heather Black was enough to earn €30,000.
Highland President has been jumping clears all year, including in Friday’s Nations Cup when representing the Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping Team, so it was no surprise to see him do so again, even if the 1.60m examination proved beyond most of the 49 pairings.
The duo were one of seven combos to keep all the obstacles intact in the first round, and they were joined by the five quickest four-faulters in the jump-off.
Breen adopted a safety-first policy and while that was not going to secure the eye-watering riches that went with victory, the second clear of 46.92 ensured a lucrative return.
In the end, Mallevaey and Dynastie de Beaufour secured a famous double, following up their contribution to France’s Nations Cup triumph 48 hours previously.
And they were comfortable enough too, for a competition of this calibre, stopping the clock in 40.75, compared to the 41.71 recorded by home favourite Gregory Wathelet (BEL) with Bond Jamesbond de Hay.
Breen warmed up for his Nations Cup clear on Friday by speeding to third in the five-star 1.45m two-phase class on Konrad Obolensky on Thursday, finishing just over a second off Jérôme Guery, who provide the locals in the Sablon Arena with a home victory on board Great Britain V.
The winner clocked a time of 35.20 in the pace section, which was just more than a second quicker than that recorded by Breen and his eight-year-old grey.
The Tipperary man and his talented youngster were very competitive once more in a five-star 1.45m speed class in the same ring on Friday, when fourth.
Martin Fuchs (SUI) claimed the spoils in comfortable enough fashion with Love de Vie, posting a clear round in 61.80 seconds but Breen was only four-tenths of a second off the middle berth of the podium with his time of 63.87 on the progressive eight-year-old grey gelding.
Also on Friday, O’Connor climbed one rung of the ladder further when earning a bronze medal for his efforts with Canbella Blue PS (below) in the five-star 1.50m Grand Prix Qualifier won by Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Lancelotta.
There were 50 participants in the Grand Place Arena, 11 of which went clear. With Jessica Springsteen withdrawing, that left ten in the jump-off and of the six that jumped a second flawless round, O’Connor and his 11-year-old mare were third quickest, their time of 36.91 right on the coattails of Guerdat’s winning mark of 36.33.
Emilie Conter gave the hosts something to shout about with Portobella van de Fruitkorf, their time of 36.65 enough to split the pair of Olympic medallists.
McAuley and Fury Nocturne followed up their three-star double at Samorin four weeks ago, by securing a maiden four-star triumph together at in Gijon on Thursday night.
On the evidence of a first four-star victory, Fury Nocturne could be ready to fill the vacancy left in the McAuley team by the sale of the Patrick Hickey-bred GRS Lady Amaro (ISH), who was sold to Coolmore Showjumping and is now the mount of Max Wachman.
McAuley has been bringing this ten-year-old bay through in similarly patient fashion and it appears to be paying dividends now, with a step up to elite competition unlikely to be far off now.
The pair were electric in claiming the Special Two-Phase Trofeo Funeraria Gijonesa.
McAuley displayed his composure when taking his time over the nine jumping efforts in the power phase, making sure there were no mistakes over the 1.50m track.
Once the first part of the plan was actioned successfully, the Louth athlete unleashed Fury, as it were, on the opposition, the sound jumper exhibiting blistering speed to stop the clock in in 32.39.
The duo were only ninth of 48 combinations into the Las Mestas arena, but nobody could touch the standard they set.
Indeed, the closest to them were the next pair into the ring, Eduardo Alvarez Aznar (SPA) and Made In’T Ruytershof. They were 3.7 seconds quicker than the winners in Phase I but where it counted, they could only record a time of 33.07 which earned the home favourites the runner-up position.
Conor O’Regan won a two-star competition in Sugerties, New York, claiming the Welcome Stakes in the Douglas Elliman GP Stadium with Manchester, going clear in 35.32 in the jump-off to keep Mia Bagnato (USA) with Cordiamo at bay, as well as a dozen other combinations competing in the jump-off.
“Manchester is naturally quite a quick horse, so I wanted to have a really good, positive first jump,” explained the Virginia-based Corkman of his strategy. “He’s the type of horse that if he has a good first jump, then everything else flows really easily.
“We’re just coming off of a five-week break, so he feels great. I’ve had him probably about two and a half years, and he’s always been a very good horse to me. He’s won a lot of classes, and today he was just right on it with me everywhere; I’m very happy with him.”
BREEDING
JAMES KANN CRUZ (ISH) – 2013 gelding by Kannan (KWPN) out of CSF Telly Cruz (ISH) by Cruising (ISH). Breeder: Patrick Connolly, Co Galway. Owner: Gizmo Partners LLC. Rider: Shane Sweetnam (IRL).
GRS LADY AMARO (ISH) – 2013 mare by Amaretto Darco (BWP) out of Legal Lady (TB) by Over The River (TB). Breeder: Denis Hickey, Co. Wexford. Owner: Coolmore Showjumping. Rider: Max Wachman (IRL).
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