Equestrian News NI » conor swail

Swail and Landsdown Take Eighth Place in 2013 World Rankings

News Desk — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 07:48:56 +0000

Horse Sport Ireland Release:

IRELAND’S Conor Swail and the stallion Lansdowne amassed enough points during the 2013 show jumping season to propel them to eighth place overall in the world rankings, which were issued this week by the world governing body, the FEI.

Owned by Susan and Ariel Grange, the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion gave Swail a total of 1355 points for the year, despite Swail being out of action in the final months of 2013 due to injury.

Swail’s eighth place with Lansdowne was the best of all the Irish combinations ranked for 2013 and included points achieved at Nations’ Cup appearances for his country, as well as numerous wins and top five placings in top competitions throughout the world.

A total of 4,648 horse-and-rider combinations were rated for the 2013 world rankings and Co. Down-born Swail and Lansdowne ended up ahead of many of the world’s best international riders and horses, due to the duo’s consistent performances as a unit.

Ireland’s Show Jumping Team Manager Robert Splaine said tonight (Tuesday): “It’s a marvellous achievement. It must be a very proud time for his owners to see their horse ranked so highly. I’m sure this news will cheer Conor up as he is presently injured, and of course we all wish him a speedy recovery”.

The top-ranked combination for 2013 was Britain’s Ben Maher and the grey mare Cella, who totalled 1718 points for the year.

Swail Triumphs at Spruce Meadows with 132,000 Dollar Grand Prix Win

News Desk — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 08:45:47 +0000

CO. DOWN'S Conor Swail tonight (Sunday) collected 132,000 dollars (100,000 euro) for a spectacular win in the Pan American Cup Grand Prix in Spruce Meadows, Canada, which also saw fellow Irish rider Cameron Hanley take third place for 60,000 dollars (45,000 euro).

Malahide-based Swail, riding Susan and Ariel Grange's stallion Lansdowne, was one of just five international combinations to go clear in the first round from a starting field of 33, and in the jump-off seemed to have forfeited his chances of the big prize when having one pole down. However, after all five had jumped, no zero score appeared, so the 41 year-old Irishman took first place with the fastest time recorded.

Last man in was Mayo's Cameron Hanley, riding Eleonore Paschoude and Yves Bouvier's talented gelding Antello Z, and the pair seemed assured of a win until they dislodged a pole on the Rolex final fence, and had to settle for a third place behind Colombian runner-up Daniel Blueman and Sanha LS La Silla.

Afterwards Swail, who finished a close second because of a time fault in last week's Queen Elizabeth Cup, and had many other top five places said: "I've had a great tournament here at Spruce Meadows and I've been knocking on the door so many times it's a tremendous feeling to finally break through and win a Grand Prix. I'm delighted with the horse, who did such a great job for me here today."

Earlier, Cork's Shane Sweetnam, who finished 11th in the Grand Prix with Amaretto Darco, had a victory with Cyklon in the speed class, with Cameron Hanley taking second on Newton du Haut Bois.

Speaking from Canada tonight, Ireland's show jumping Team manager Robert Splaine said: "It's been terrific to hear the Irish national anthem played twice here today and I must congratulate Conor for his win this evening with Lansdowne. They are a wonderful combination and seem to mature more every time I see them. 

"Cameron Hanley gave an excellent performance, and it's a remarkable achievement to make such a comeback after his very serious two year injury lay-off. Shane Sweetnam has also had a good week, and all this is encouraging as our plan comes together for the year. We have an extremely challenging number of weeks ahead of us, with not only the Dublin Horse Show but also the European Show Jumping Championships in Denmark on our schedule." 
Note from Colin McClelland, Horse Sport Ireland

Swail Victory Leads Irish Charge at Wellington

News Desk — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:03:41 +0000

CONOR Swail led the Irish charge in tonight’s (Thursday) Round Ten of the Winter Equestrian Festival Challenge at Wellington in Florida with a victory aboard the chestnut mare Martha Louise.

The Co. Down-born rider, who was second to go in the final round, outpaced the USA’s jump-off leader Charlie Jacobs and Flaming Star, clipping over a second off their time.

Afterwards Swail said of Martha Louise: “”She kind of excelled herself today, she was just fantastic. She is a great horse to have on the truck and she is only nine years old. I have to say, she was very good today. I wasn’t really expecting her to be so good because she hasn’t been doing a lot and I thought she would be a bit rusty, but she was fantastic in the jump-off.”

A total of five Irish riders claimed places in the finishing top ten of the competition, with Olympic medallist Cian O’Connor taking sixth on a single time fault with the Clover Hill gelding Walk Tall II and Darragh Kerins slotting E-Muse Yek into seventh with one pole down.

Eighth place went to Darragh Kenny with Any Given Sunday, with Shane Sweetnam in tenth on Eregast Van’t Kiezelhof.

The tenth round of the Winter Equestrian Festival is sponsored by Horseware Ireland, and sees the $82,000 Grand Prix take place on Saturday.

Meanwhile at the five-star show at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, Jessica Kurten and Denis Lynch compete for Ireland in the World Cup class on Sunday, while at Braunschweig in Germany Bertram Allen campaigns three horses, with a fourth place on Molly Malone already under his belt today.

Capt. Michael Kelly and Brian O’Malley continue to fly the Irish flag at Vejer de la Frontera in Spain this weekend, while Joanne Sloan Allen, Josephine Sorensen, Alex Duffy and Conor Drain compete at Arezzo’s three-star show in Italy.

A total of ten Irish show jumpers are competing at Vilamoura’s two-star show in Portugal, while Mark McAuley is the sole Irish contender at Vidauban in France.

Horse Sport Ireland, Colin McClelland

Sweetnam Third in Florida Grand Prix

News Desk — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:03:31 +0000

CORK’S Shane Sweetnam placed third in last night’s (Saturday) World Cup Grand Prix in Wellington, Florida, with fellow Irish rider Conor Swail taking eighth.

With 125,000 dollars in prize money at stake, competition was understandably intense, and at the finish only four combinations achieved double clear rounds, with the USA’s Beezie Madden and Cortes C claiming first place honours on the Darco gelding Cortes C.

Sweetnam, who was also riding a Darco offspring, the stallion Amaretto Darco, was one of those to finish on a zero score, but was just over a second off the pace of winner Madden.

“I was very happy with my horse tonight,” Sweetnam said afterwards. “ It is his first grand prix of the year and I’m just happy to be here.”

Co. Down’s Conor Swail, a regular top ten finisher in recent US competitions, had two fences down in the Grand Prix jump-off to claim eighth position on the Guidam stallion Lansdowne.

Horse Sport Ireland, Colin McClelland