THE Irish certainly made their mark on the Washington International Horse Show weekend, with Co Down’s Conor Swail winning Friday’s five-star $63,000 1.50m Speed Final on Count Me In, when fastest of the 21 starters in a time of 61.24 seconds. They finished just fractions ahead of McLain Ward (USA) and First Lady in second (61.40), who were followed by Cork’s Simon McCarthy on Narcotique v/h Dingenshof in third (62.23).

“I was lucky enough I was able to see most of the riders,” said Swail afterwards. “I saw McLain and Simon going, and I thought Laura actually had a great round early on. I was very lucky I rode ‘Crosby’ today. He’s very careful and a serial winner, so it’s very nice to know that, if I give him a good opportunity to do everything right, he normally repays me.”

Jump-off

Swail and Vital Chance de la Roque had placed third in Thursday’s $63,000 1.55m Welcome Stakes. Swail was one of two Ulster riders, from 33 starters, who made it through to the 11-horse jump-off – the other being Derry’s Jordan Coyle on board For Gold. Coyle had two down in his second round, but Swail jumped clear again to claim third place in 34.01 seconds. The class was won by Abdel Saïd (BEL) and Arpege du Ru (31.61), with Mark Bluman (COL) runner-up on Ubiluc (33.20).

Friday’s $32,000 1.50m Two-phase class saw second place going to Jordan Coyle on King Kannan GP, with brother Daniel placing sixth with Langley.

Daniel secured a top 10 finish in Sunday’s concluding $340,000 five-star 1.60m Grand Prix, when incurring an unfortunate four faults with Incredible to place 10th of the 33 starters. Only five combinations jumped clear to get into the jump-off, with the win going to Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa on Major Tom.

An Irish-bred horse, now ridden by France’s Nina Mallevaey, won Thursday’s $32,000 Accumulator Costume Class. My Clementine (O.B.O.S Quality 004 x Kashmir van Schuttershof) was bred by David Prentice and her rider said after their win: “She’s simply amazing. I’ve been riding her for six months, and she’s just so smart and fast and careful. She’s just so fun to ride.”