As one of only three combinations to reach the jump-off — and the only one to deliver a clear round — world No. 5 Shane Sweetnam claimed victory in the first Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) Grand Prix of the sixth season. Aboard the 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding Coriaan van Klapscheut Z (Comme Il Faut, breeder: Stoeterij Mivaro), the Irishman won the $500,000 5* Kubota Grand Prix at Angelstone in Toronto.
As the final rider to start, Kent Farrington (world No. 2) logged the fastest time with the 9-year-old gelding Descartes SR (Caramelo), but a rail at the penultimate fence dropped him to second place. Earlier this week, the pair had already won the 1.55m Qualifier. Colombia's Ilan Bluman and the 11-year-old BWP mare Acajou (Casallco) were the first to go in the jump-off, but saw the final oxer come down, finishing in third place.
Thrilling first round takes its toll
The course designed by Brazilian course designer Guilherme Jorge proved to be a tough challenge. In addition to the technical fences, the tight time allowed played a decisive role. Both Tony Stormanns and Conor Swail kept all the rails up, but crossed the finish line less than a second over the time allowed. Swail missed out on the jump-off by just a few hundredths of a second.
Conor Swail wins CSI2 Grand Prix*
Earlier, the 1.45m CSI2* Grand Prix took center stage. Conor Swail held off the competition aboard the BWP-bred Nadal Hero & DB (Kannan GFE), bred by Valentijn De Bock. Another Belgian-bred horse, Quinet-K van 't Kattenheye (Vagabond de la Pomme, breeders: Tony Raman & Mieke Strobbe), took second place with Jay Hayes. Sean Jobin completed the top three with Engaye d'Amaury (Kama d'Amaury, breeder: Sophie Maze).
