CONOR Swail was in excellent form at the five-star show in Saugerties, New York last week, scoring a win and several top-six finishes.

The Co Down rider began with victory in the $24,000 Smartpak Grand Prix with the Susan and Ariel Grange-owned Fortis Fortuna, a nine-year-old mare by Quidam De Revel out of a Carthago dam. One of 10 combinations to make it into the jump-off, they finished just a fraction ahead of American Julie Welles on Virginia WZ, with Venezuelan Pablo Barrios finishing third aboard Chaco 34. Swail and Fortis Fortuna also finished fifth in a 1.40m class on the same day at Saugerties, which is part of the HITS series of horse shows which take place in New York, California, Florida, Arizona, and Virginia.

Swail also took third place in last Saturday’s $34,000 jumper classic at Saugerties, partnering the Casall mare Cita who is also owned-by Susan and Ariel Grange. Unusually, the class finished with joint winners when Pablo Barros (Antares) and Heather Caristo-Williams (Evening Star), both finished clear in 39.00 seconds.

Swail had posted the first clear round of the jump-off with Cita and afterwards he said: “She is a new mare to me, this is only my second show with her, so I was very pleased. I thought the track was tough, first round included. It’s the first time I’ve ridden a jump-off with her. She probably didn’t know what hit her when I landed and started kicking after the first fence. She was great.”

The Saugerties one-million-dollar Grand Prix last Sunday saw two Irish riders finish in the top-ten. Swail filled seventh spot with the Ilan Ferder-owned Viva Colombia who is by the sire Couleur Rubin, while Tipperary-born Kevin Babington finished eighth with Shorapur.

Victory and a cheque for a massive $330,000 went to Beezie Madden and Simon, with Gerardo Pasquel riding Big Red taking runner-up spot ahead of McLain Ward and Rothchild in third.