IRELAND’S Conor Swail scored a win at the five-star show in Mannheim, Germany on Friday, with Susan Grange’s nine year-old gelding Simba De La Roque.

The Co Down rider outpaced German challenger Marco Kutscher and the 11-year-old Balermo by just over half a second to collect the €3,750 first prize, while Tipperary’s Shane Breen placed fourth in the class with Laura and Meredith Mateo’s gelding Reconnaissance.

Swail also finished second in Thursday’s Grand Prix qualifier at Mannheim on Ilan Ferder’s Viva Colombia, while Tipperary-born Kevin Babington placed fifth with the Irish Sport Horse Mark Q.

Swail has been selected as Ireland’s team anchorman for today’s Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup in Mannheim today (Saturday) with Vanessa Mannix’s stallion Grand Cru Vd Vijf Eiken.

Shane Breen will be first of the Irish team to jump with Golden Hawk, followed by Kevin Babington and Shorapur, while Shane Sweetnam will partner Chaqui Z.

Ireland has been drawn second of eight nations competing in the German Nations Cup, which is not one of Ireland’s point-scoring competitions in the 2015 Furusiyya league.

Meanwhile, US-based Irish rider Darragh Kerins claimed Thursday’s Suncast jump-off at the three-star show in Tryon, North Carolina, with Richie Moloney claiming taking sixth place.

Sligo-born Kerins rode the French-bred Thunder D’Amaury to a double clear round, one of five from a starting field of 27, and collected €10,000 euro for his win. Kilkenny’s Richie Moloney and Carrabis Z narrowly missed the jump-off as they were the only combination to collect a single time fault in their clear first round.

Read our reports from Mannheim and Tryon International in The Irish Field next week.