Five alive for Sweetnam and Breen
McEvoy, O’Connor and Allen shine as Coyle’s great Legacy retired
Shane Sweetnam and Shane Breen bagged five-star wins in America and UAE in the last few days as the form of the Irish contingent continues to give cause for excitement as the year really kicks into gear.
Cian O’Connor medalled in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup in Ocala – Conor Swail ended the North American swing on top of the table of qualifiers for the World Cup final – while Niamh McEvoy book-ended a landmark week with a top-five return from the lucrative Emirates Cup in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile in Wellington, Bertram Allen won the three-star IDA Development Grand Prix for the fourth time, with Pacino Amiro (ISH), bred in Donegal by Patrick Scott.
It was a week in which show jumping paid tribute to a legendary mare, as owner Ariel Grange announced the retirement of Legacy, who represented Ireland at Olympic Games, World Championships and two European Championships.
In the process, she helped catapult Derry athlete, Daniel Coyle into the world’s top 10 riders, making him a mainstay of Green Jacket teams in the process.
Now 16, the Zangersheide mare played a vital role in cementing the relationship between Daniel Coyle and Grange, who had taken over the reins of the Lothlorien Farm string from her mother Susan, who had passed away in October 2017 after enjoying some good success with the Ardmore equestrian.
Legacy came along the following year and won a multitude of World Cups and Grands Prix, from Amsterdam, Leipzig and London to Toronto, Fort Worth and Thermal.
She jumped two clear rounds in Paris in 2024 and last year, won the first individual class at the European Championships.
“In the Spring of 2018, Daniel and I were kids, scared of having to rebuild, grow and honour the history of Lothlorien by ourselves,” Grange wrote online.
“It seems so long ago now, years on into the success and feats that we didn’t know we would achieve. Little did we know back then, that when we most needed it, help would come.
“The story has been told, the awards given and articles written, the ribbons are on the wall and the trophies are in the case. Legacy’s career and fame has spanned the world, but only two of us truly know the life-altering, incredible magic that is Legacy, because for Daniel and I, she changed our lives in every way.
“Although we are sad at the end of a journey, we feel like we have lived all our lives, we are so happy to give back a life that she laid on the line for us time and time again.
“Legacy will reign over Lothlorien with her head held high, reminding us all that greatness is achievable.
“Thank you Legacy… you have been everything and we are honoured to give you the future you deserve filled with green grass, lazy days and maybe a few babies.”
In the arena, five-star competition during the Winter Spectacular Show Series kicked off on Wednesday at the World Equestrian Center and Tom Wachman was in the night’s speed class, galvanising Obora’s Laura to a clear in 66.12 over the 1.45m track, with victory going to Canada’s Erynn Ballard, piloting Her Game Ball BG.
On Thursday, Sweetnam and his Patrick Connolly-bred Olympian James Kann Cruz (ISH), filled a similar position in the Grand Prix Qualifier – won by Ben Maher (GB) with Ginger-Blue – as one of only a quartet of double clears from a 17-strong jump-off that also included Wachman and Do It Easy (7th) and Cian O’Connor with Kentucky TN (9th), both those combos having a rail down.
On Friday morning, Sweetnam was runner-up in a two-star Grand Prix Qualifier with Balou H but later on, the World No 11 climbed to the top rung of the ladder by blitzing a field of 33 to claim the spoils in the five-star Winning Round class with the gloriously consistent Coriaan van Klapscheut Z.
With only the top 10 qualifying for the tiebreaker, even though a dozen went clear, the competitiveness was off the charts but as riders sought tiny margins everywhere, seven of those came a cropper.
Sweetnam and Coriaan got the balance right as the quickest of the double clears in 38.50 ahead of McLain Ward (USA) with Lestro vd Valckenborg. It was an 18th top-five finish for the duo since the Cork native began riding -year-old Zangersheide gelding in FEI classes last year.
“I wanted to win, but it was hard to gauge what needed to be done to win,” said the Cork native. “There was a turn to the second-to-last jump, which I wasn’t in love with. I sort of took a gamble there to go around and be fast, then do one less stride to the last jump. It worked out well. It was just a little bit of an awkward jump-off, so I wasn’t sure it would be enough. Thankfully it was.
“He was still quite green last year, but got some really good results all year. The end of last year he won a good Grand Prix, and then another at his last show, so now we expect a lot from him.”
Jordan Coyle kept the green flag flying when fifth with For Gold in a very hot five-star speed class, just 1.21 seconds off the winning mark set by Maher and Ginger-Blue
The feature event of the week at Ocala was the aforementioned $300,000 World Cup and it was a good one for Irish athletes, with O’Connor finishing third and Swail the leading qualifier from the North American League.
Swail, held that pole position despite not even participating in this concluding leg, have done enough to this point and instead, competing at Desert Oak where he finished fifth in the three-star Grand Prix after ironically incurring a time fault in Round 1 on speed class king Theo 160.
It was a fantastic result for O’Connor however, who took some time to get to know Kentucky TN since acquiring him from Zoe Osterhoff eight months ago. The patience and work are clearly beginning to pay off.
“I really had to meet him halfway,” said O’Connor afterwards. “He was very sensitive, and Zoe had a whole programme with him. Generally, when I buy any horse, I follow the programme of the previous person. You can always adapt, but if somebody else has taken the time to get to know a horse and develop that relationship, it’s nice to get that information.
“Bit by bit, the horse trusted me. This is the first five-star we have done, so I couldn’t be happier with him. It’s just all progression.”
Apart from Swail, the Down pilot’s fellow Ulsterman and former protegee, Daniel Coyle also had his place in the Fort Worth World Cup final confirmed thanks to his previous strong results in North American qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the international action got under way at the Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club on Thursday and Breen readied himself for his Longines League of Nations debut for Ireland with a stunning win on Scarteen.
The garlanded Tipperary man has done almost everything there is to do in the sport but to secure a win of this nature as he contemplated his first outing in the LLON 24 hours later had to calm any nerves the 51-year-old might possess.
Breen showed all his class by steering Scarteen to the most definitive victory you will ever see in a speed competition, taking almost eight seconds off the leading time of local hero, Abdullah-Humaid Al Muhair (UAE) and his horse Chacolu (76.24), to finish top of an elite field 42 with a clear in 68.56 seconds.
To put the time into context, only eight of the contestants posted clear rounds, so it was clearly not an easy track.
But the Cashel native and the 13-year-old grey owned and bred by Breen Equestrian Ltd were different gravy and they just missed the podium by six-hundredths of a second the following day, finishing fourth with a time of 65.47 in a class was won by Romain Duguet (SUI), riding Bel Canto de Boguin.
For McEvoy, it was a week she won’t forget in a hurry. The 21-year-old from Tyrone joined Breen as a debutant as Ireland finished sixth in the LLON and provided a clear round on Olympic GL FVD before sitting out the second round.
That extra bit of freshness might have helped as the pair returned to register a top-five finish in the lucrative Emirates Cup on Sunday. The Omagh tyro and Keith Ennis’ 12-year-old copper-fastened the message they have delivered this week that they are ready for elite competition with a fantastic outing..
The 1.60m Grand Prix had 50 contestants that proved incredibly demanding with only two clear rounds in the first round and plenty more casualties among the baker’s dozen that returned.
Brazilian Luciana Diniz took the honours in dramatic fashion with 17-year-old Vertigo du Desert, a second-round clear to go with their one time fault in the first round edging out Briton Tim Gredley with Medoc de Toxandria on two faults.
McEvoy was coolness personified on her return to the ring, adding another clear to her first round tally of four faults to bag fifth and a pot of €24,688.
And finally, Bertram Allen kept up his good run of form going a gold and silver with Pacino Amiro at Wellington.
The Wexford man is in red-hot form right now and he and his Irish Sport Horse had a nice sighter early on with double clear and a jump-off time of 46.61 seconds, to split Luis Fernando Larrazabal (COL) with Baroness and Quentin Judge (USA) with HH Griffin Van De Heffinck.
And the duo returned when it counted, as Allen remarkably bagged a fourth triumph in this competition.
Max Wachman and Kannem JAZ also qualified for the tiebreaker but had a rail down, though that still bagged a fifth-place ribbon.
Allen and Pacino Amiro had the perfect position as last into the ring for the tiebreaker, however, and as a former five-star winner who was selected as first reserve for the Olympics two years ago before an injury that forced a long absence intervened, the 14-year-old was the class horse of the competition.
So it proved, with another foot–perfect round in a very quick 47.67 taking almost a full two seconds off the time set by Zoe Hank Conter (BEL) with Tombola Z (49.6).
At four-star level, Mark McAuley beat everyone except Steve Guerdat (SUI) in the Jump-Off Challenge at Vejer de la Frontera.
The Louth man combined with Django Ste Hermelle for a double clear and speed time of 37.05 that was only bettered by Guerdat and Lusso Gih Z, who stopped the clock on 36.46.
BREEDING
PACINO AMIRO (ISH) – 2012 gelding by Pacino (BWP) out of Carnone Dancing Queen (ISH) by NC Amiro (AES). Breeder: Simon Scott, Co Donegal. Owner: Ballywalter Stables Ltd. Rider: Bertram Allen (IRL).
CSF JAMES KANN CRUZ (ISH) – 2013 gelding by Kannan (KWPN) out of CSF Telly Cruz (ISH) by Cruising (ISH)[TIH]. Breeder: Patrick Connolly, Co Galway. Owner: Gizmo Partners, LLC. Rider: Shane Sweetnam (IRL).
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