IRISH Chef d’Equipe Jessica Kurten’s team of Meath’s Cian O’Connor on Ulysses; Derry’s Jordan Coyle on Chaccolino; Tipperary’s Tom Wachman on Do It Easy and Cork’s Shane Sweetnam on Rural Juror SCF, finished as runners-up in the four-star $150,000 FEI Nations Cup class at Wellington International in Florida on Saturday, from the eight teams who lined out.
Prior to the competition, 21-year-old Wachman said of his selection to the team: “I’m excited - I’ve never jumped on a team here before. It’s always a great atmosphere and competitive. There’s plenty of support for the Irish, so I’m looking forward to it.”
O’Connor was first into the arena for Team Ireland and jumped a super clear round to get things off to a great start. Coyle was next in and picked up an unfortunate four faults, which ended up as the discard score, as Wachman and Sweetnam each jumped flawless rounds to leave Ireland on a zero score at the end of round one, equal with the home team from the USA.
In round two, O’Connor and Ulysses completed a double clear round, with Coyle keeping all the poles standing second time out. Wachman and Sweetnam each collected four faults this time, which left Ireland on an overall score of four faults at the finish. The American team maintained their zero score to the end, giving them victory on home soil for a second consecutive year. Canada completed the podium in third place on a final score of 13.
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Tom Wachman and Obora’s Laura on their way to winning the $32,000 Adequan WEF Challenge Cup round eight at the Winter Equestrian Festival \ Sportfot
Irish success
The Irish had already made their mark with a one-two-four in the $32,000 Adequan WEF Challenge Cup round eight at the Winter Equestrian Festival on Thursday. Wachman rode the 11-year-mare Obora’s Laura into first place from a start list of 47 and was followed by Darragh Kenny on Colibelle Hero Z in second, while Shane Sweetnam finished just off the podium in fourth on board Coriaan van Klapscheut Z.
Eleven of the starters managed to jump clear within the time allowed, with Wachman’s time of 66.24 seconds proving best. Kenny stopped the clock less than a second behind in 67.18 and had to settle for the runner-up berth. Jacob Pope (USA) completed the podium in third with Highway FBH (68.06), just ahead of Sweetnam, who clocked 68.66.
Wachman said afterwards that he and his coach Cian O’Connor have been working on speed rounds recently, which seems to have paid off.
“She’s a very good mare; very competitive. It was a tough enough track, so I was delighted with the way she performed today,” Wachman said of his mount. “She’s really careful and she tries really hard. Cian and I worked her a bit a few times the last couple of weeks and we just practised turning, because there have been a few speed classes where I lost a bit of time in the turns, so [we] were just practising that, and it worked out quite well today, so I’m happy.”
Earlier in the day, the 48-strong $10,000 Under 25 Welcome class saw Daniel Kerins finish sixth and seventh with Diacette and Malou Blue PS, when both horses jumped clear in 60.81 and 61.79 respectively.
Sunday’s four-star $200,000 JTWG Inc Grand Prix saw two Irish riders finish on the podium. Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and the 11-year-old mare Colibelle Hero Z were runners-up in the 29-starter class, closely followed by Sweetnam on the 10-year-old gelding Coriaan van Klapscheut Z in third.
It was a tough course and only five pairings completed the first round fault-free and within the time allowed, with two of them picking up four faults in the jump-off. The top three completed without fault and within a second of each other - the fastest being Karl Cook (USA) on Candy, who stopped the clock in 36.87 for the win and $60,000, followed by Kenny in 37.72 for second place ($40,000) and Sweetnam a whisker behind in 37.75 for third ($30,000).
Kenny was the top money-earning Irish competitor of the week and claimed the Niall Grimes ‘Cheers’ Perpetual Trophy.
https://foto.ifj.ie/fotoweb/archives/5006-Irish-Horse-World/Irish%20Horse%20World/2020/Darragh%20Kenny%20%C2%A9Sportfot_BR209446.jpg.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5006-Irish-Horse-World%2F%3Fq%3Ddarragh%2520kenny
Tom Wachman and Obora’s Laura on their way to winning the $32,000 Adequan WEF Challenge Cup round eight at the Winter Equestrian Festival \ Sportfot