TWO Irish men finished in the top five of the 41-strong five-star $340,000 Highlands Cup Grand Prix at Amenia on Saturday. Twelve combinations jumped clear in the first round to secure their right to jump again, with five completing double clear rounds. These included Conor Swail on Clonterm Obolensky in fifth in a jump-off time of 46.79 and Shane Sweetnam on the Patrick Connolly-bred CSF James Kann Cruz (ISH) (Kannan x CSF Telly Cruz by Cruising), whose faster time of 42.82 secured a podium place in third. Rene Dittmer (GER) on Corsica X won the class less than a second ahead in 42.01, with Gregory Wathelet (BEL) in second on Ace of Hearts (42.16).

Placings

The latest Major League Show Jumping fixture was held at Amenia, New York over the weekend (October 8th to 12th). The two-star 1.40m speed class on Wednesday saw Swail get off the mark with Clique, placing third when clear in 67.25. Israel’s Daniel Bluman won the class with Malina in a speedy 63.11, with Gabriel De Matos Machado (BRA) second in 65.60. The day’s five-star 1.40m Welcome two-phase class saw Sweetnam place seventh with Riesling Van De Gaathoeve, followed by Philip McGuane on Paso Doble SCF in eighth.

Two Irish men finished in the top 10 in Thursday’s two-star 1.45m speed class – namely McGuane on My Lady Van De Krekel in third and Michael Duffy on RMF Balouwinsky in seventh.

Swail was back on the podium in Friday’s MLSJ individual speed class, placing third with Theo 160. Of the 48 starters, 22 jumped clear, with Swail among the fastest of these in a time of 65.27. The class was won by Nina Mallevaey (FRA) riding the Irish Sport Horse mare My Clementine (64.21), with Daniel Bluman (ISR) on Hummer Z in second (65.20).

David O’Brien and Coleccini were runners-up in Saturday’s five-star 1.45m Winning Round. From a start list of 38, there were 14 clear first rounds, with the best 10 making it through to the Winning Round. Six combinations completed double clear rounds, with O’Brien’s time of 47.14 not quite fast enough to catch winner Richard Vogel (GER) on Con Quality (45.21).