CORK’s Shane Sweetnam added to his five-star roll of honour during week 11 at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, when claiming victory in last Friday’s 1.45m victory with Indra van de Oude Heihoef.

Nineteen of the 46 starters jumped clear, with Canada’s Olympic gold medallist Eric Lamaze and Chacco Kid taking the early lead with a time of 62.24 seconds, which would eventually be good enough for second place.

Fifth to go, Sweetnam and Indra van de Oude Heihoef, owned by The Blue Buckle Group, shaved almost a full second off the leading time, taking it down to 61.26. None of the remaining entries were able to catch Sweetnam’s time, but USA’s Jessica Springsteen and Hungry Heart came close in 63.10 to take third place.

Although Sweetnam had not seen Lamaze’s round, seeing his time gave the Irish rider a good idea of what kind of speed he would need. “I had walked a plan for myself,” he said afterwards. “Everything came up the way I had planned it and imagined it. On Wednesday, I thought I could have won that class as well, but I just got caught in one place with a second distance. Today, everything came up nice. It was beatable, but it was going to force people to always have to try hard for it.

“She has a very big stride, so when everything shows up, it makes it a bit easier,” he said of the 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare by Casantos x Action-Breaker. “If you have to slow down with her, it definitely takes a half a second from you when you have to add a stride. Also, she jumps quite high, so all those inches and extra strides make a big difference to her.

“You have other horses that naturally are quick and can add a little stride here and there, like McLain’s horse [Catoki], who is super quick without leaving out strides. For a class like this, to win it, it has to all show up.”

Kenny wins again

On the final day of week 11 of the Winter Equestrian Festival, Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and Vertige De Galarzacs rose to the occasion to win the $50,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Grand Prix on Sunday, just one week after winning the three-star Grand Prix at the same venue.

A total of 43 horse-and-rider combinations contested the opening round, with just six pairs qualifying for the jump-off. Trained by Cian O’Connor, Canada’s Nicole Walker aboard Excellent B, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Berlin x Heartbreaker, executed the shortened track to set the standard at 37.81 seconds, which would hold up for second place.

Kenny, the current overall leader of the CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Classic Series, was last to go and proved once again why he’s at the top, picking up the win aboard the 12-year-old Selle Français gelding by Quaprice Bois Margot, who is owned by Karrie Rufers’ Morning Star Sporthorses LLC, crossing the timers in 36.01 seconds.

Speaking afterwards, Kenny said: “I didn’t jump him in any classes this week. I just went straight into the Grand Prix so he was a little bit more fresh. He jumped excellent and felt fantastic. He’s just a really, really nice horse. He felt really good, I just wasn’t sure if the inside turn after the third last jump was going to be faster or not. It turned out to be faster so that was good.”

The 12th and final week of WEF takes place this weekend with four-star and two-star competitions. The feature $214,000 Wellington Agricultural Services Grand Prix CSI4* takes place on Saturday night, while Sunday concludes with the $50,000 1.45m Grand Prix CSI2*. All feature classes can be watched for free both live and on-demand at www.pbiec.coth.com.