Conor Swail finishes on top in Florida

Ireland’s Conor Swail has won the Suncast 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida, USA.

Early draw

Conor hadn’t competed his mare Martha Louise since September, but he described the 11-year-old’s performance as “totally amazing”.

Despite an early draw, the pair won the class with a time of 37.23sec, with the USA’s Brianne Goutal taking second place (38.49sec).

“There were a few quick ones behind me, so I think you had to just have a good, tight round,” said Conor. “I knew it was going to be close. Brianne jumped very well there. I would say if she had got a good shot to the last fence there she would have been close to beating me.”

Olympic veteran

Brianne also had to settle for second place in the Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix CSI 2*, when a ten-time Olympic veteran beat her to the title. There was two one-hundredths of a second (and 42 years of age!) between them, with Ian Millar still at the top of his game aged 68.

The Canadian was the fastest of five riders in the jump-off onboard Dixson – a horse related to Ian’s top showjumper Big Ben.

“The greatest horse I ever had was Big Ben, and this horse is related to him on the mother line,” said Ian. “I felt very strongly about him when I saw him. I could see the weaknesses, but I was absolutely drawn to him.”

Race car

Another Canadian legend showing great form in Florida is Eric Lamaze. He enjoyed his fourth WEF win in the Spy Coast Farm 1.40m Speed Challenge.

Eric’s teammate Tiffany Foster briefly took the lead (64.86sec) with Melody des Hayettes Z, but Eric and Fine Lady 5 knocked more than two seconds off their time to win the class with (62.64sec).

“I think a lot of people are just schooling their horses in these classes, but for me that was the way of schooling her, was to go fast,” said Eric. “She is like a race car. She is just so quick.”