CORK’s Shane Sweetnam scored a runner-up finish in the three-star $125,000 Grand Prix at the Kentucky Spring Classic in Lexington, when he steered the Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz (Kannan x Cruising), bred by Patrick Connolly, to a double clear round.
From 33 starters, 16 managed to negotiate the first-round course without penalty to get into the jump-off, where just nine of them were able to maintain their clean sheet.
Sweetnam’s jump-off time of 35.08 seconds was less than a quarter of a second off the pace of class winner Luis Pedro Biraben (ARG) on Chacco Bumpy, who clocked 34.84.
The podium was completed by Rene Dittmer (GER) on Cody 139. Biraben pocketed $31,250 for the win, while Sweetnam took home $25,000. Simon McCarthy secured seventh place with Leonardo S, while Richie Moloney rode Coco Beach into ninth.
Welcome win
Conor Swail rode Qoreen Van’T Ruytershof Z into fourth place in the opening day’s 1.35m class from a start list of 68. Swail followed that up with another fourth place in the three-star $1,000 1.35m class, this time riding One Edition. He was followed by Conor O’Regan, who rode Manchester into sixth place.
McCarthy won the 38-strong three-star $31,500 1.45m Welcome class on Wednesday with his reliable equine partner, the 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Narcotique v/h Dingenshof, jumping clear all the way in a time of 60.39. The pair finished almost three seconds ahead of second-placed Cathleen Driscoll (USA) and ‘Flotylla’ (63.31).
Swail and One Edition also finished on the podium in third, a mere one-hundredth of a second behind in 63.32.
Following his win, McCarthy said: “It feels great. It’s always nice to get off to a good start to the week like that, so I am thrilled with my horse.
“Honestly, she’s just incredibly fast across the ground, so I did pretty much the same numbers as Conor Swail. I watched him go and I knew I could trust her ground speed and do the numbers.”
Of his mount, McCarthy said: “Ilan Ferder gave her to me to ride, and then I purchased her at the beginning of this year. After I purchased her, we went through a bit of a lull results-wise, so it’s nice to see that she’s finding a bit of form again.”
Top 10
Wednesday’s seven-year-old class saw Declan Egan place fourth with Pinot K and O’Regan seventh on HK Apollo Creed.
Thursday’s 1.35m class saw Kevin Gallagher place third with Diamo CK Z, followed by Paul O’Shea on Jack Sparrows in fourth and Egan on Goliath De L’Eldorado in fifth, while in the day’s seven-year-old class, Egan took another fifth place with Pinot K.
O’Regan won the day’s 1.40m class with Carmen de Bonnieres and placed fifth on Big Boy Z from a start list of 40. Swail concluded the day with an eighth place in the 54-strong three-star $62.500 1.50m class on board Clonterm Obolensky.
Saturday saw Egan placing eighth in the 1.45m class with Cerlino, while in the day’s seven-year-old class, the rider took fourth place with Pinot K. On Sunday, O’Regan and Big Boy Z placed eighth in the Bluegrass Grand Prix.