IRISH riders were in the ribbons at the five-star Continental fixture held at Spruce Meadows in Canada from June 4th until 7th, which offered two-star classes alongside the five-star schedule.

Down’s Conor Swail and the 14-year-old gelding Theo 160 were runners-up in the five-star 1.50m jump-off class on Friday. From the 25 starters, just seven made it through to the jump-off, where four remained fault-free. Swail’s time of 38.16 was just off the pace of Colombian winner, Mark Bluman riding S&L Haquinsa, who stopped the clock in 37.71.

Swail also featured on the podium in Sunday’s five-star 1.60m Akita Drilling Grand Prix. Such was the challenge of the course that only two of the 29 starters jumped clear in round one to book a place against the clock - Katie Laurie (NZL) on Django II and Sameh El Dahan (EGY) on the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare WKD Balou Breeze, bred by Joe Sloan in Co Antrim. Laurie was the deserving winner, as the only competitor to manage to jump double clear, with El Dahan settling for the runner-up spot. Swail rode Casturano into third place as the fastest of the four-faulters in the first round.

Placings

There were two top-five placings for the Irish in Sunday’s 25-strong five-star 1.45m Friends of the Meadows Jumper class, where 11 combinations jumped without penalty. Derry’s Daniel Coyle rode Urville Z into fourth place in a time of 62.81, followed incredibly closely by Swail on Theo 160 a mere hundredth of a second behind in 62.82 for fifth. The class was won by Abdulrahman Alrajhi on Lorenzo ES in an unbeatable time of 60.13.

On Thursday, Coyle had placed sixth in the two-star 1.30m class with VDL Mourinho with a clear round in 63.26.

Friday’s five-star 1.55m Altagas Cup jump-off class saw a start list of 42, with just eight jumping clear first time out to proceed to the jump-off. Coyle was among them and rode the fastest jump-off time of 39.61, the only combination to break the 40-second barrier, but that came at a cost as he picked up four faults, but still claimed fourth place on board Farrel. There was some consolation for Ireland, as the class was won by Brazil’s Gabriel De Matos Machado on the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Legaland Sandro (Sandro Boy x Drumiller Digital by Clinton), bred in Co Cavan by Joe Reilly, when they rode the fastest clear in 43.19. This pair had placed eighth in Thursday’s five-star 1.45m speed class.