IT was a good weekend for the Irish in California, when both David O’Brien and Conor Swail registered wins at the four-star show at Desert International Horse Park in California.

The first of these came on Friday morning, when O’Brien rode his recent addition Fairson TS to finish on top of the podium in the four-star $20,000 FEI 1.45m Speed class, when they were best of the 15 starters. O’Brien was among nine clear rounds in the class, but he and his mount clocked the fastest time of 64.36. His nearest challenger was Canada’s Ali Ramsay on Koblenz with a time of 64.75; they were closely followed by Mathijs Van Asten (NED) and Norberlina VD Laarseheide Z, who finished in third place in a time of 64.86.