DERRY’S Daniel Coyle secured another five-star win with Farrel, when they took the top spot in the 1.55m Canadian Utilities Cup at Spruce Meadows on Friday. The Irish pair proved best of 63 starters in the class, 13 of whom jumped clear in round one to proceed to the jump-off; Coyle and Ariel Grange’s 16-year-old gelding jumped double clear in a super jump-off time of 40.64 seconds. Lillie Keenan (USA) may have kicked on, but she and her mount Kick On finished over a second behind in 41.84 and had to settle for the runner-up berth.
The podium was completed by Down’s Conor Swail with Oliver Glancy’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse stallion Clonterm Obolensky (Cornet Obolensky x She Has The Lux by Lux Z), bred by Brian Duff in Co Meath, who was third in 42.53. Swail also claimed sixth with Casturano (45.92).
“I could go on for days about what I love about Spruce Meadows, but everybody kind of knows that now. The biggest thing for me here is that I get to know my horses even better, my younger ones especially, and my older horses that I know so well,” said Coyle of Spruce Meadows. “This arena and this place is very unique and you don’t just ride like you ride everywhere else, it’s two gears faster and the jumps are twice as long as they are anywhere else.”
In the ribbons
The five-star ‘Pan American’ fixture, which also hosted some two-star classes, ran at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Canada from June 24th to 28th.
Competition commenced on Thursday and saw Coyle place fourth in the two-star 1.40m Friends of the Meadows class, jumping clear in 64.14 on board VDL Mourinho. Avery Griffin (USA) on Bodega Semilly won the class in a time of 63.20.
Coyle then won the equivalent 1.30m class riding Obsession to a clear round in 56.15 - more than two seconds ahead of nearest rival, Brazil’s Gabriel De Matos Machado on Adele Z, who clocked 58.36.
In Friday’s two-star 1.40m Equus jump-off class, Coyle placed sixth with Nord Face VDL, while on Sunday, Swail and Casturano were fourth in the five-star 1.45m West Canadian Cup jump-off class. The 42 starters produced 10 clears in round one, with eight of those jumping clear again in the jump-off. Swail’s time of 47.08 wasn’t just fast enough to catch Richard Vogel (GER) on Phenyo van het Keyersbos, who stopped the clock in a winning 44.33.
Sunday’s five-star 1.60 Aon Grand Prix saw two Irish men in the top 10. From a start list of 31, only two jumped clear within the time in round one - namely Richard Vogel (GER) on Gangster Montdesir and Katie Laurie (NZL) on Django II.
In the jump-off, Vogel kept a clean sheet in 52.74 to win, with the only double clear of the class. Laurie picked up four faults for second place, while Vaclav Stanek (CZE) on Quintin placed third after picking up a single time penalty in round one.
Tom Wachman and Kilkenny took seventh, with Coyle on Farrel in eighth.