On a tremendous Day Two at the Split Rock Jumping Tour's Bourbon International, Conor Swail made it two-for-two when he picked up the win in the $35,000 Amalaya CSI3* Speed Cup. Thirty-five horses vied for the top prize over a 1.45m course where not only speed was needed to go clean. FEI course designer Anthony D'Ambrosio set a technical track with some light jumps and stride options, and less than half of the entries rode without fault.
Eighth to go, Jonathan McCrea was the first clean on Candy Tribble's Wiranta Z, with a conservative but solid ride in 76.52, which ended up just shy of the top 12. Directly after McCrea, New Zealand's Sharn Wordley took a solid nine seconds off that time, riding Hickstead's Axel (owned by Ashland Stables) clean in 67.11. That lead held for more than 10 rounds, until Irishman Conor Swail trotted in on yesterday's winning mount, Ilan Ferder's Viva Colombia.
Like yesterday, Swail first rode Martha Louise (Susan & Ariel Grange, owners), and had a good feel for the track. Taking close to 3.5 seconds off the fastest time, Swail neatly and swiftly illustrated the pair's skills as he took the lead and held it for the remainder of the event. By class completion, two more riders slipped in between Wordley and Swail. Denise Wilson on Blue Gate Farm LLC's Galous earned second with a clean round in 65.62, and Molly Ashe on Louisburg Farm's Cat Ballou were third with a time of 66.87.
Abrahamson Breaks The Ice with a Win in the UltrOZ™ Low Jr-A/O Jumper Class
In a Table II, Sec 2b class with a solid talent pool of 40 horses and riders, more than 20 had a go in the jump-off for the UltrOZ™ Low Jr-A/O, creating quite a competition. Sarah Fisher on Cassenova W took an early lead stopping the jump-off clock in 31.05. Galloping in tenth, Natalie Horween laid down a blazing time 29.75. It took almost 15 more attempts at the top before Kady Abrahamson and Icebreaker bumped Horween out of that spot, finishing with a time of 29.59, just .18 seconds faster.
Having the advantage of riding her other horse, Basco W2, in the jump-off first, she was prepared to win on Icebreaker. "I thought my first horse was fast - that's my faster one. But on [Icebreaker], I left a stride out and did the four up the last line. That's what you had to do to win it, there was no other place to turn tighter."
