CORK’S Shane Sweetnam once again demonstrated his skill and consistency, when he rode the 10-year-old gelding Coriaan van Klapscheut Z to win Thursday’s four-star $116,100 Adequan WEF Challenge Cup Round 10 at the Winter Equestrian Festival at Wellington International in Florida.

The start list saw 49 combinations line up to contest the sizeable prize fund, with 10 of them jumping clear within the time allowed to make it through to the jump-off, one of whom withdrew. Six pairs managed to remain without fault second time round. Sweetnam and his mount recorded the fastest time of 34.53, more than half a second ahead of runner-up Christian Kukuk (GER) on Viki van Gogh (35.15), with Canada’s Mario Deslauriers on Inside of my Heart almost three seconds further back in third (38.12). Darragh Kenny was seventh in the class on Colibelle Hero Z.

In the ribbons

It was a good day for the Irish, as Michael Duffy came out on top of Thursday’s 48-strong four-star 1.40m $6,000 two-phase class, when riding Cantano 32 to a double clear round in a second phase time of 29.04. Beat Mandli (SUI) on Qoachella was next best in 29.94, with Brazil’s Gabriel de Matos Machado on It Girl in third (30.44). Sweetnam and Balou H finished just off the podium in fourth (30.56).

Duffy was back in pole position on Friday, riding Mr Cornike into first place in the four-star $32,000 1.50m speed class of 39. Fifteen combinations jumped clear, with Duffy’s time of 63.33 proving fastest. Tom Wachman placed fifth in the class on board Hawaii, exactly one second behind his fellow Irish man (64.33)

Sunday’s four-star $62,500 1.50m Classic saw three Irish riders finish in the top 10, from a start list of 40. Duffy was best of these in fourth place with Mr Cornike, when double clear in 41.37, while Wachman rode Obora’s Laura into eighth (44.53) and Cian O’Connor placed 10th with Iron Man, after they incurred four faults in round two. Mark Bluman (COL) won the class with S&L Hello Sunshine in a time of 39.91.

Daniel Kerins rode Diacette into sixth place in the $50,000 Under 25 Grand Prix final on Sunday from a start list of 28.

Myakka City

Meanwhile, at the two-star fixture at Myakka City in Florida, Saturday’s $100,000 Magellan Jets 1.45m Grand saw Darragh Kenny finish on the podium in third with Mendoza, while Simon McCarthy and Quartier van de Begijnakker finished in fifth place.

Both Irish men were among the five double clears in the class, with Kenny stopping the jump-off clock in 36.61 seconds and McCarthy doing so in 38.74. It was a very close finish, with the top three within 0.2 seconds of each other - the class was won by Jacqueline Ruyle (USA) on Cyramo Z in a time of 36.44, with Canada’s Amy Millar riding Christiano just a fraction faster than Kenny in 36.60 to secure second place.