CORK’s Shane Sweetnam crowned an incredible weekend at the famous four-star Hampton Class Horse Show when he won the $30,000 Longines Rider Challenge after winning two classes and finishing second in the $300,000 Grand Prix.

His first win came in Friday’s $75,000 Douglas Elliman Grand Prix Qualifier aboard the Blue Buckle Group’s brilliant Indra van de Oude Heihoef (Casantos x Action-Breaker), a recent five-star winner at the Dublin Horse Show.

Sweetnam qualified two horses for the nine-horse jump-off and was first to go with his Aga Khan ride Main Road to set an early lead in a time of 39.42 seconds. However, he was never going for the win with Heartbeat-sired gelding, and turning his attention to the 10-year-old grey mare, he left a stride out between fences one and two and blazed home in a time of 37.72 seconds for the win.

“The plan is for Main Road to jump Sunday, so I was never going to go all out with him today. I was lucky enough to go quick enough to still get a good piece of it with him and finish fourth. Having been around once, it gave me the real advantage of knowing the route, how it felt, and where I could leave a stride out. I had to work for it, but she does cover the ground,” he said afterwards.

SECOND WIN

The Irish flag flew once again for Sweetnam after he won Saturday’s $70,000 Longines Cup with the same mount. They put in a foot-perfect round to jump clean in a time of 36.61 seconds, beating fellow countryman Richie Moloney into second place with the Irish Sport Horse with Rocksy Music (0/0 39.60)

“She showed real heart and desire to get the job done two days in a row. Last year was her first Grand Prix, here in the Hamptons, and she’s really a bright light for the future,” he added about the talented mare.

McLain Ward won Sunday’s Hampton Classic Grand Prix for a record seventh time, this time aboard Double H Farm’s HH Gigi’s Girl. Course designer Michel Vaillancourt built a technical 1.60m track and just five managed to keep a clean sheet in the first round.

Ward set the target of 39.32 seconds and last to go, Sweetnam crossed the line in a time of 421.24 seconds, not helped by the 10-year-old stallion bucking throughout the jump-off round. Co Down’s Lorcan Gallagher had one fence down in the first round with the Dacantos Group’s Hunters Conlypso II to finish seventh.

Wellington and Kentucky-based Sweetnam received yet another Longines watch, to add to the two he already won that week, when crowned the overall leading rider.