COUNTY Down’s Conor Swail has been on a winning streak recently and last weekend was no different, when he added more top placings to his tally. Swail was competing with a number of his string of horses at the fourth week of the Desert Circuit in Thermal, California, USA.

The most notable of his weekend wins was in the $182,000 four-star 1.55m Grand Prix on Saturday, when he rode the 17-year-old gelding Count Me In (Count Grannus x Sherlock Holmes) into the top spot.

“Obviously, I’m quite confident going in with him; he’s back in very good form,” Swail said about riding ‘Crosby’ onto the course as last to go, with only one clear round having been ridden at that point. “He had a nice win Thursday, so we were quite confident going in, but I spoke to [course builder] Alan Wade before the start of the course and asked him how he felt. He said it was full height and full spec, so I think that showed a little.”

Challenging

Ireland’s Wade is well-known as being one of the top course designers in the world and his Grand Prix course certainly must have been challenging, as only two of the 24 starters made it round the first-round course without faults – Swail on Count Me In and Kaitlin Campbell (USA) on Castlefield Cornelius.

“It was tough enough to jump,” Swail went on. “The course I thought was very ‘getable’, if you rode it well, and thankfully I have a lot of quality underneath me with Crosby. I was quite nervous going in actually, because there was one clear; nobody had really mastered the course that well. I’m expected to go clear with Crosby, so there was enough pressure on me to do well. The horse felt super good.”

Campbell’s jump-off time of 46.84 seconds was good enough for second place, with Swail knocking more than two seconds off, finishing in 44.68 seconds to take the win.

Irish successes

Ireland’s James Chawke had got off to a good start last Wednesday (January 31st) when winning the Seven-year-old Young Jumper 1.30m-1.35m class with Cadence de Hus Z and also taking first place in the $1,000 FEI two-star 1.40m Special Two-Phase class with One Edition, where Swail and Gamble came seventh. Meanwhile, in the $1,000 FEI four-star 1.40m Special Two-Phase, Swail and Vital Chance de la Roque came second behind his student, Canadian Vanessa Mannix riding Carmela Z. Swail also placed sixth in the class with Count Me In.

Thursday saw Chawke and LFS Etoile place fourth in the $1,000 1.20m Open Jumper class, while another Irishman, Mark Kinsella and Hanakine, won the $1,500 1.40m Open Jumper class, also taking joint-fifth place in the same class with Quality H. Chawke and Cadence de Hus Z placed third in the day’s Seven-year-old Young Jumper 1.30-1.35m class.

Swail and Gamble took third in the $32,000 FEI two-star 1.45m Speed class, but Swail went on to win the $32,000 FEI four-star 1.50m Speed class with Count Me In, finishing clear in 59.54 seconds, just 0.42 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet riding Stern Dei Folletti.

Friday’s $1,000 1.20m Open Jumper class saw Irish rider Liam Deery and Ambre de la Cense in second place, with Chawke and Catinka 25 in sixth. Deery then rode Conova to finish seventh in the $15,000 Six-Bar class.

Chawke and Cadence de Hus Z won Saturday’s Seven-year-old Young Jumper 1.30-1.35m class, while Swail and Gamble came fifth in the $63,000 FEI two-star 1.45m Grand Prix.

Sunday saw Deery and Ambre de la Cense win the $1,500 1.20m Open Classic, ahead of Chawke and Catinka 25 in fifth.

Swail concluded another fantastic show by winning the final $32,000 FEI four-star 1.50m Classic with Vital Chance de la Roque, jumping double clear with a jump-off time of 40.99 seconds, more than a second ahead of second placed Nicole Haunert (USA) on My Lady Lavista.