SWEDEN proved a very happy hunting ground for Cork’s Shane Sweetnam at the weekend, as he and his super-talented equine partner, the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding James Kann Cruz, triumphed in Falsterbo’s €500,000 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix.
The class was the crescendo of the show and saw 50 of the world’s most accomplished show jumpers on the start list. Of those, 14 combinations jumped clear over German course designer Frank Rothenberger’s first-round track, with 12 proceeding to jump again. Seven combinations managed to keep all the fences intact second time out, with Germany’s Richard Vogel on Cloudio setting the time to beat at 38.63.
Breathtaking
Sweetnam, who is currently ranked number five in the world, and the formidable James Kann Cruz (Kannan x CSF Telly Cruz by Cruising), bred by Patrick Connolly in Co Galway and owned by Gizmo Partners LLC, were last to jump, as leaders from round one, and they put in a breathtaking round of jumping, which was exciting to watch, as it was full steam ahead. They did an incredible turnback to the vertical after the double and, such is the dexterity of James Kann Cruz that, despite the horse slipping on the turn, he maintained his composure, cleared the fence and flew on to the next one. Sweetnam got the balance between covering the ground and remaining accurate over the fences just right and the pair broke the beams in 37.68 seconds, almost a second ahead of Vogel, to secure their first-ever five-star Grand Prix win together and a very generous winner’s prize.
Derry’s Jordan Coyle and Chaccolino also made it through to the jump-off, but picked up an unlucky four faults to finish in 10th place. Egypt’s Nayel Nassar rode the Irish Sport Horse ESI Ali, bred by Ennisnag Stud in Kilkenny, into ninth place.
“To compete at Falsterbo and win a Rolex Grand Prix is incredibly special to me,” Sweetnam said afterwards. “Hopefully, I can do it again. If I had to sum up the week in one sentence, I would simply say: it has been fantastic.”
Irish Horse Board Director General Alison Corbally commented: “Massive congratulations to Shane Sweetnam and to Patrick Connolly, breeder of CSF James Kann Cruz (ISH), on this stunning win in Falsterbo. They again proved that they are one of the top combinations in the world with an exceptional performance.”
Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz on their lap of honour after winning the five-star 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix at Falsterbo in Sweden \ Rolf Stenberg
Top five
Five-star classes at Falsterbo Horse Show in Sweden ran from July 9th until 12th and brought the world’s best in show jumping together.
The opening 1.50m Rolex Grand Prix qualifier saw a good start for the Irish contingent, who claimed three of the top five places from a start list of 59, of whom 26 jumped clear. Coyle rode King Kannan GP into the runner-up position with a clear round in 62.11 seconds, while Sweetnam on James Kann Cruz placed fourth in 63.57 and Trevor Breen on Konrad Obolensky followed in fifth in 63.69. The class was won by Andre Thieme (GER) on DSP Chakaria (61.72).
Coyle went one better on Friday, when he and King Kannan GP won the 1.45m Derby qualifier, when their clear round in 68.66 was best of the 12 clears in the 25-strong class. Breen and Konrad Obolensky placed fifth in 76.92.
The five-star 1.60m Nations Cup provided the exciting highlight of Friday afternoon, with 10 teams lining up to do battle. Jessica Kurten had selected her team as Offaly's Darragh Kenny (Eddy Blue), Tipperary's Trevor Breen (Highland President Derry's Jordan Coyle (Chaccolino) and Cork's Shane Sweetnam (Coriaan Van Klapscheut Z) and they were drawn to jump first.
Kenny got the Irish squad off to a great start with a perfect clear round, which was replicated by Breen. Coyle picked up an unfortunate four faults, as did Sweenam, to put Ireland on a first-round score of four faults, so they were safely through to the second round.
In round two, Kenny kept all the poles in place to complete an excellent double clear, while Breen was unlucky to finish with eight faults. Coyle and Sweetnam both repeated their first-round scores of four faults each, putting Ireland on a second-round score of eight and 12 overall. France also finished on 12, but a faster time put them in fourth place and Ireland in fifth at the finish.
Jump-off
Switzerland and Belgium both finished on zero scores, which meant a jump-off was required to determine the winner. Martin Fuchs rode Lorde for Switzerland and picked up just three time penalties, which proved good enough to take the win. Pieter Devos and Primo DV jumped for Belgium, but eight jumping faults and five for time gave him a finishing score of 13, putting Belgium into the runner-up position. The USA completed the podium in third on a final score of eight faults.
On Saturday, Sweetnam finished joint second in the day’s 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier, this time riding Pia Maria H. The 46 starters produced 22 clear rounds, with Sweetnam’s time of 64.14 equalling that of Charlotte Jacobs (USA) on Korbach van de Renger, so they shared second place. They were only bettered by Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt on Callao L, who stopped the clock in 62.98.
The 1.50m Falsterbo Derby saw a fifth-place finish for Breen and Konrad Obolensky, when they were among the four-faulters in round one of the 20-strong class. Just three combinations jumped clear to book a place in the jump-off, which decided their podium positions. Martin Fuchs (SUI) on Love de Vie won the class in a jump-off time of 47.04.
The 1.40m Six-Bar class, due to be held on Saturday evening, was cancelled.