CO Down’s Conor Swail was a very happy man at the weekend, as he claimed victory in the five-star 1.60m ATCO Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Spruce Meadows in Canada on Saturday night – a trophy that had previously eluded him.

Swail and the 17-year-old gelding Count Me In were best of the 40 starters and took home the top prize of over €225,000. Competitors had to complete two rounds, after which only four combinations remained clear and proceeded to the third-round jump-off, where Swail jumped clear again in a time of 39.29 seconds. Canada’s Amy Millar was closest to catching them, with a jump-off time of 40.85, which secured them second place. They were the only two combinations to finish the three rounds on a zero score.

Fellow Irishman, Neal Fearon and Cocktail De Talma had made it through to the jump-off, but an unfortunate fence down and four faults put them in fourth place in a very fast time of 37.82.

Swail commented afterwards: “It feels amazing. The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is one of the most prestigious Grand Prix in the world. I hit the post one year with a great horse I had, Lansdowne, but it’s fitting that Count Me In was able to get me the win, because he has the been a horse of a lifetime and I’m just so happy for him.

“Honestly, what that horse has done for me is just incredible. The highlight reel for me is basically him in my career. He went through a little bad patch last year, where we weren’t that comfortable jumping bigger. And then, we’ve just built him back up nicely. And honestly, he feels as good as ever.”

Swail had already ridden the 10-year-old mare My Lady Lavista, owned by Cherokee Show Horses, into second place in Friday’s 1.50m ATCO Cup class, just missing out on the top spot to Egypt’s Nayal Nasser on Esi Alli, whose jump-off time was a second and a half quicker than the Irish pair.

Irish placings

Neal Fearon had kicked off the show with a seventh place in last Wednesday’s Friends of the Meadows 1.50m class on board Deirdre Reilly’s Cocktail De Talma, while David O’Brien and Fairson TS were runners-up in the 1.30m class and Robert Blanchette rode Carnlea Premier Balou to win the day’s 1.40m class, as well as taking the top spot in the 1.45m class with Chardonnay.

Thursday’s 1.55m class saw an eighth-place finish for Fearon and Cocktail De Talma, while James Brennan and More Special placed third in a 1.30m class, which saw Blanchette on Greannanstown Rich Girl finish eighth.

On Friday, Brennan and More Special placed seventh in the 1.30m class and the rider went on to win the 1.20m class on board WT Lakota, followed by Joanne Sloan Allen on Liana in third. O’Brien and Brennan were eighth and ninth in the day’s 1.40m class riding Fairson TS and Pioniere Van’T Reebroeck respectively. Brennan and More Special came second in Saturday’s 1.30m class.

Sunday’s 1.45m class saw Andrew Bourns and Copy Champ place seventh in the 1.45m class, while in the 1.20m class, Brennan took the win with WT Lakota and Sloan Allen placed third on Liana.