CO Down’s Conor Swail enjoyed two five-star wins during ‘Pan American’ weekend at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Canada, while Limerick’s Paul O’Shea finished on the podium in the 1.60m Pan American Cup which was won by USA’s Kent Farrington.

Riding Count Me In, world number six Conor Swail first landed Friday’s five-star 1.45m jump-off class riding Mannon Farm’s 16-year-old gelding Count Me In. The pair posted the best of five clears against the clock in 37.57 seconds, one second faster than Offaly’s Darragh Kenny in second place with Arna ‘t Kruisveld, owned by Reverie Sporthorses LLC.

On Sunday afternoon, Swail took his second five-star win in the Friends of the Meadows 1.50m jump-off. From a startlist of 27 over Anthony d’Ambrosio’s track, just six were clear and four of those managed to keep a clean sheet second time out. Swail and Count Me In were best of those in 34.10 seconds, seeing off Britain’s Amanda Derbyshire and Otto BH in second place. Paul O’Shea slotted into sixth with Squirt Gun after two fences down against the clock.

Pan American Cup

O’Shea came within a hair’s breath of winning the feature $435,000 Pan American Cup Grand Prix on Saturday evening. Some 35 combinations qualified for the 1.60m class with six making it through to the jump-off, including O’Shea and Kenny for Ireland, as well as the former Army rider Brian Cournane, now riding for the USA.

O’Shea, mounted on the Imerald Partners LLC and T Equestrian Farms LLC-owned Imerald Van ‘T Voorhof, posted the fastest time of the day in 41.07 seconds but four faults meant they had to settle for third place on the podium and $65,250.

Kent Farrington added another big result to his list of achievements with Landon, taking the top spot with a clear in 42.36 seconds, ahead of Canada’s Kyle Timm and Candar Mail. Kenny finished with four faults in a time of 43.72 seconds with Hamrah Van Het Exelhof Z to finish fifth, behind Cournane and Armik.