THERE were six Irish riders inside the top 10 in the $414,300 five-star Grand Prix at Traverse City in Michigan, USA, last Saturday where USA’s Karl Cook landed another big career win.

Brazilian Marina Azevedo built a very technical track that only produced five clears, and of the five, Cook was the only double clear to win aboard Kalinka van’t Zorgvliet, ahead of Galway’s Andrew Bourns in the runner-up position with the Irish Sport Horse gelding Sea Topblue, and Darragh Kenny in third with Hamrah van het Exelhof Z.

Bourns and the 12-year-old Chacco Blue gelding who was bred by John and James Meade, faulted at the double against the clock, finishing in 45.30 seconds to earn just over €56,000. Kenny also ended on four faults with the nine-year-old Harley VDL gelding, in a slower time of 48.10.

A time of 48.06 seconds and two fences down left Sligo’s Darragh Kerins in fifth place, riding Lissino, while three faults in the first round left Conor Swail in seventh with Hot Horses LLC’s 10-year-old mare Calciet EB Z. Paul O’Shea and Shane Sweetnam each had a fence down in the first round to finish eighth and 10th respectively.

Bourns was thrilled with Sea Topblue’s second-place finish. “This is probably one of his better results in his career,” he commented. “He’s won Grands Prix up to the four-star level and has placed numerous times in the five-stars. I think I misjudged the double in the jump off; I’m not sure if I would have beaten Karl because he was coming after me, but I would’ve given him a better run for his money if I had just made a slightly better judgment on the double. It certainly wasn’t Sea Topblue’s fault today; he was out for the win.”

Kenny echoed how excited he was by his horse’s performance, knowing he has a winner for the future. “I’m very happy to be honest. I knew going into the jump-off that I didn’t really have a chance to beat Karl. My horse is nine years old; he’s super green. He only just started the five-star level, and he’s jumped clear in every five-star Grand Prix he’s jumped in so far. I think next year he can be an incredible horse. He’s so talented and keeps getting better every round,” Kenny said.

Chic win

The Offaly man won Thursday’s $142,000 Grand Prix qualifier with Vlock Show Stables’ Chic Chic. With severe weather blowing into Northern Michigan in the middle of the class, the riders had to wait out a weather delay and go to battle in a 15-horse jump-off.

Last to go, Kenny and Chic Chic posted the winning time on 39.91, seeing off Israel’s Daniel Bluman and Gemma W who had lead from the beginning. “The horse jumped fantastic,” Kenny said of the 12-year-old Westphalian stallion. “He’s an incredible horse and always pulls out a great result. Daniel [Bluman] was obviously very fast so I just had to go try to beat him. Luckily enough for me it played out well today.”

In the two-star division, Conor Swail won Thursday’s 1.45m speed with Mannon Farm’s Count Me In from a field of 78 entries.

“I had a good ride on my other horse Gamble and we were close enough to the time, but I saw Cathleen [Driscoll’s] round and she had a really good, fast round,” Swail said of second-place finisher Driscoll aboard Magnolia, owned by Plain Bay Farm. “Everyone was struggling to catch her. Crosby is a very fast horse and I must say, the second half of the course we were lightning fast. We flew around and did all the numbers I was looking for. He’s an amazing horse for me and this was a nice run around for him. It was a good day for both of us.”

The 16-year-old gelding was Swail’s winning mount at last year’s Dublin Horse Show, but the pair are just building back up to the top level after a setback. “He’s lost a bit of confidence, so I’m doing these smaller classes to try to make it more fun for him. We went to Spruce [Meadows] and won three or four classes there at 1.45m-1.50m level. I’m trying to let him enjoy himself a wee bit and hopefully we can build him back up to his achievements from last year.

“The horse doesn’t owe me anything. He’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden. Whatever he wants to give me I’m happy with.”