IRELAND certainly dominated Saturday’s five-star $300,000 1.60m Longines FEI Jumping World Cup of Ocala, with Irish riders claiming the first four placings in the class. It was Meath man Cian O’Connor’s day, as he took the coveted top spot on the podium on board the 14-year-old gelding Bentley de Sury with a double clear round in a jump-off time of 36.62 seconds. In a close contest, the runner-up position went to Cork’s Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (ISH) (36.81), with Derry’s Daniel Coyle in third on Incredible (36.84) and Tipperary’s Tom Wachman on Tabasco de Toxandria Z placing fourth. Darragh Kenny also claimed seventh place for the Irish riding Eddy Blue. There were 33 on the start list, just seven of whom jumped the first-round clear within the time to proceed to the jump-off (five of them being Irish), where six combinations repeated their clear round.
Motivation
“When there’s so many Irish in the jump-off, and I knew they’d go so hard, it kind of motivated me a little bit to have a proper go,” O’Connor said afterwards. “Shane had a brilliant round, and I knew Daniel was coming behind [me], so I just did what I thought Bentley could do.”
Sweetnam had set the early time to beat with James Kann Cruz (ISH). “My turn wasn’t good enough [between the second and third jump-off fences]... I had a feeling I didn’t have enough done,” Sweetnam said. “[My horse] jumped great. I’m delighted with him. I can always be a little bit better, but he did his part.”
O’Connor managed to edge ahead slightly, but had to wait until the end of the class to see if he had done enough.
Offaly’s Darragh Kenny rode a quick round on Eddy Blue, with a tight turn into the combination seeing them clear the first part of the double, but they had the oxer down jumping out, which relegated them to seventh place.
Only Coyle remained to challenge O’Connor’s lead, but he had to change his strategy at the last.
“The plan was to try to do eight [strides] to the last fence, but I had emptied the horse and myself, and I thought, ‘Well, I will do something I never do’, and I took an extra stride,” Coyle shared. “I thought, ‘If I’m fast enough, I’m fast enough’, and tonight I wasn’t.
“If anyone’s going to beat you, it might as well be two Irishmen.”
It was a worthwhile night all round, as three Irish riders (Kenny, Sweetnam and Coyle), earned tickets to the upcoming World Cup Finals in Basel (SUI) in April, qualifying as Extra Athletes.
Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz took second place at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ NAL in Ocala (USA) \ FEI/Shannon Brinkman
In the ribbons
The Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Show at Ocala took place from last Wednesday, February 12th until Sunday, February 16th. Kenny was quick off the mark, when claiming the runner-up position in Wednesday’s five-star $1,000 1.40m two-phase class riding Chaccosini in a class of 34. Nine combinations made it through to the second round, with five of them jumping clear again. The fastest jump-off time was set by Spain’s Francisco Goyoaga Mollet on Clic Es Patrons (29.84), with Kenny just a second behind in 30.84. Sweetnam was also among the double clears on board Coriaan van Klapscheut Z to place fifth in 37.15, while Kenny also placed equal 10th with Eddy Blue, after incurring a time-penalty in round one.
The $32,000 1.45m two-phase special saw Tom Wachman finish on the podium in third place with Do It Easy in a time of 32.57, just over a second behind class winner, Nina Mallevaey (FRA) on the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare My Clementine, bred by David Prentice (31.21). Jordan Coyle on King Kannan GP placed fifth (33.35) and Cian O’Connor on Belvedere was a very close sixth (33.36).
In Thursday’s $1,500 1.45m Jumper class, Wachman rode Hawaii into fifth place, followed by O’Connor on Gengis Kann De Londe in seventh, with Darragh Kerins on Proud Mary in 10th.
Thursday’s five-star $117,000 1.55m World Cup Qualifier was won by Daniel Coyle on the 15-year-old gelding Farrel. Out of 46 starters, 19 jumped clear in round one, with 16 of them proceeding to the second round, where nine managed to jump clear again. Coyle was fastest of these in a time of 40.18, over half a second ahead of runner-up Charlie Jones (GBR) on Capitale 6 (40.72). O’Connor finished fourth on Canbella Blue PS (41.00).
“I went back to my old habits,” said Coyle of his approach to the final fence. “I had eye surgery recently and usually when the jump is that far away, you’d better not look. At the last fence, I didn’t look at all. I just galloped as fast as I could and tried to pick up the distance near the end. Thankfully, it worked out. I’ve been doing that my whole life, but now I can see a little better.”
Friday saw the David Prentice-bred My Clementine steered to victory for a second time by Mallavaey (FRA) in the five-star $62,500 1.50m Winning Round class. Despite time penalties in round one, Mallavaey was among 12 of the 28 starters who made it through to the winning round, where she and her mount clocked the fastest time of 36.16. Laura Kraut (USA) was runner-up with Lady D, while Wachman and Obora’s Laura finished third in 37.39, with Kenny taking both eighth and ninth places with Lightning and Chaccossini respectively.
“Clementine is really fast and careful, and she really loves to go fast. Any time I go in the jump-off with her, I really know that I have a chance, so that’s a great feeling,” Mallavaey explained. “She did everything I asked her to do – she was just amazing. I went a little bit fast on the double in the jump-off and she reacted so well, so I’m really happy with her.”
Hat-trick
On Saturday, Wachman then won the $15,000 1.40m Futures Prix riding Hawaii to a double clear in a jump-off time of 35.94.
Irish Sport Horse My Clementine secured a hat-trick, when winning the five-star $62.500 1.50m Speed class under 25-year-old French rider, Mallavaey. The pair raced round the one-round course in the fastest time of 58.72 seconds. Best of the Irish riders here was Sweetnam with Coriaan van Klapscheut Z in 10th place.
Coyle concluded the show with a fifth place in Sunday’s $40,000 Grand Prix riding Daydream.