CO Down’s Conor Swail was the best placed Irish show jumper in the FEI World Cup Qualifier at the four-star Palm Beach Masters in Deeridge Farm, Wellington, last weekend, where the Irish picked up a number of strong placings.

Swail was first to go in the first round of Sunday’s feature 1.60m class, designed by Alan Wade, with Vanessa Mannix’s GK Coco Chanel and made it look straight forward when crossing the finish line with nothing to add. After the rest of the 38-strong field had gone, just eight more managed to join Swail in the jump-off, including young Mayo rider Cormac Hanley and VDL Cartello.

Swail once again set the standard in the second round when clear in a time of 44.68 and that was eventually good enough for fourth place and $20,800. Hanley was unlucky to pick up four faults second time out, in a time of 45.16 seconds, to finish in eighth place. America’s Alex Granato crowned a spectacular week when he took victory with Carlchen W, just as he had done in Friday’s Grand Prix qualifier. Canada’s Olympic veteran Mario Deslauriers slotted into the runner-up position aboard Bardolina 2 (0/0 43.48), ahead of Switzerland’s Beat Mändli in third with Dsarie (0/0 44.16).

Swail’s other top result came in Saturday’s 1.55m jump-off class, when he guided Rose Hill Farm’s Rubens LS La Silla to second place. Seven made it through to the jump-off, where victory went to Britain’s Ben Maher and Cirus Du Ruisseau Z, who was fractions faster than Swail.

Shane Sweetnam guided Palina de L’Escaut to fifth place with a clear round, while Darragh Kenny’s Babalou 41 made a comeback at this level after undergoing a colic operation in early September and finished in sixth place with four faults against the clock.

In Friday’s qualifier, also won by Granato, Paul O’Shea flew the Irish flag when guiding Tequestrian Farms LLC’s Imerald van’t Voorhodf to fourth place. Hanley also made it through to the 19 horse jump-off with VDL Cartello but one fence on the ground saw him finish sixth. Sweetnam also picked up four faults with Indra van de Oude Heihoef for eighth place.

HANLEY VICTORY

Hanley’s form was good all week and his victory came in the opening national 1.40m two-phase aboard Copain Z on Thursday, before they earned €5,500 when finishing runners-up in Saturday’s 1.40m national Grand Prix. Victory went to USA’s Ali Wolff and HH Venice Beach.

Derry’s Daniel Coyle got his campaign at the Wellington venue underway on Thursday when guiding Quintin to second place in the 1.45m Table A. His clear in 72.34 seconds earned him just over $7,000, while victory went to Swiss rider Martin Fuchs and Cristo (0/ 71.37).