CORK’S Shane Sweetnam had a pleasing show at the three-star fixture at Traverse City in Michigan (July 22nd to 26th), starting with a win in Thursday’s three-star $5,000 1.40m Two Phase Special class with Honey Heart. The start list of 32 resulted in six double clears within the allocated time, with Sweetnam’s time of 34.66 proving fastest. He was followed by fellow Irish man Daniel Kerins on Malou Blue PS in fifth place.

The three-star $75,000 Traverse City Nations Cup was also held on Thursday, with six nations taking part. The Irish team of Christian Coyle on the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Ballyoskill Big Bucks (Royal Concorde x Lux Clover by Lux Z, bred by Killian Dunne), Dylan Daly on Cinderella Z, Paul O’Shea on Manglar LS La Silla and Sweetnam on Pegina VD Bisschop finished in third place.

In the first round, Coyle picked up eight faults, as did Daly and O’Shea, with Daly’s being the discard score. Sweetnam was a fitting anchorman, completing a clear round, to put Ireland on a score of 16 at the midway point.

Coyle jumped clear second time out, while Daly and O’Shea both repeated their first-round results (with Daly’s score again being discarded). Sweetnam showed why he is currently number five in the world, when completing a flawless double clear.

With eight faults in round two, Ireland finished on a score of 24. Israel took the win on just four faults, followed by the USA team in second on 16 and Ireland in third.