Swiss bliss for Coyle, Brennan, as Sweetnam goes close in GP
Two-star victories for Kenny and two Ryans
With seven Green Jackets among the top 35 athletes in the Longines FEI world rankings, it stands to reason that the Irish would be well represented at the prestigious five-star show in Geneva.
Daniel Coyle lodged a prized victory on Friday, while Cian O’Connor posted three podiums and Tim Brennan cleaned up in the U25 category.
And the week concluded with Shane Sweetnam scooping a cool €250,000 for finishing second in the Rolex Grand Prix at the famous Swiss venue.
It was a sixth runner-up finish in Grand Prix for the Castlemagner pilot this year, to go with his maiden GP triumph with Coriaan Van Klapscheut Z at Wellington last month.
It was fourth second placing with the Patrick Connolly-bred James Kann Cruz (ISH), who is metronomic when it comes to clearing obstacles but invariably finds one rival who is a little nimbler covering the ground.
That ensures a remarkable consistency for the lovable grey known as Gizmo – and owned by Gizmo Partners – who was Sweetnam’s partner at the Olympics in Paris last year.
The duo were among eight pairs to make the jump-off. Coyle just missed out on Incredible, who jumped perfectly but picked up one time fault for going 0.77 seconds over the 74 second standard, though he still picked up €9,000 for 12th, with Simon Delestre (FRA), Peder Fredricson (SWE) and Ben Maher (GBR) also misjudging the time requirement ever so slightly.
Being first of the octet into the arena was a clear disadvantage for Sweetnam and Gizmo, and in that context, the repeat clear in 41.39 seconds was a scintillating effort and though three others managed to replicate the faultless renewals, they could not match that time.
The world No 1, Kent Farrington and his high-class mare Greya could not be held at bay however, stopping the timers at 40.04 while leaving all the rails intact to garner the lion’s share of the prize money.
Coyle had no doubt about who his “bundle of joy” was this week as Daydream marked a landmark week for the Ardmore native by providing another five-star victory to the CV in Geneva.
The Lovin’ Spoonful penned the archetypal song for chilling out, but the horse that shares its name, and the man on her back were all business when it came to delivering on the big stage.
On the week where the Irish No 1 was named The Irish Field senior Irish Showjumper of the Year for the third straight season and also competed in the Rolex IJRC Top Ten final for the first time, it was fitting that Coyle would exhibit his innate horsemanship in combining education with the competitive spirit in Friday’s 1.45m speed class.
Coyle had to love how the Ariel Grange-owned Daydream made light of the 14 jumping efforts and responded to his signals for tight turns, as they took the honours with clear round in 56.27 seconds, which was only 0.14 quicker than Bryan Balsiger (SUI) with Castiel.
“My plan was to put the wheels back on the wagon,” Coyle told World of Showjumping afterwards.
“I jumped her last night in the Grand Prix qualifier, and Daydream is a new horse to this level. Every class we do, she is learning every step. She is very careful and she has taken a little bit more time than normal.
“Yesterday, I turned tight back to a triple bar and it scared her a little bit, so we went to try and put it right today – and she did.
“I am very happy. We were really as one today.”
The 31-year-old Derry man, who is the highest ranked Irish rider at No 10 in the world, joined forces with Incredible for the season-ending Top Ten and the duo finished seventh in their inaugural appearance in the tough 1.60m two-round affair.
Great Britain’s Scott Brash was triumphant with Hello Chadora Lady, ahead of the only other double clear pairing, Kent Farrington (USA) with Toulayna.
Coyle and Incredible had just one jumping error in each round and were the quickest of the eight faulters.
O’Connor had a very successful show, with a trio of podiums. On Friday, the Meath-based Kildare athlete made it a third bronze medal with a different horse in 24 hours, when time steering Genghis Khan, the nine-year-old son of Kannan to third in a stiff 1.55m speed class won by Jessica Mendoza (GBR) with In The Air.
The Karlswood Stables supremo has to be delighted with the form of many of his progressive horses and got the opening day of international competition in Geneva off to a brilliant start with two five-star podiums on Thursday.
The highlight was the brilliant third place in the 1.60m Trophée de Genève on Thursday night with Chatonlinue PS, the 12-year-old gelding jumping two clears around a stiff track to bag €16,500.
Victory went to Briton Donald Whitaker, with Millfield Colette, after they stopped the clock in the jump-off at 45.15. Christian Ahlmann (GER) was next on Dourkhan Hero Z, with a time of 46.73, with the Irish pair hot on their heels having recorded a time of 47.16.
Earlier in the afternoon, O’Connor registered another podium in the 1.45m two-phase class with Canbella Blue PS. The competition was won by Germany’s former eventing king, Michael Young, with Fischer Duopower, as they blitzed through the arena in 25.98 on the speed section.
Hans-Dieter Dreher (GER) also had a blemish-free round with Cous Cous 3, registering a speed time of 27.18, while O’Connor and his 11-year-old mare stopped the clock on 28.11.
The same day, Tim Brennan won the U25 Prix Range Rover with Diadema Della Caccia.
And the young Kilkenny athlete and his talented partner would go on to add the feature for the age group, the U25 Grand Prix, taking care of business on Saturday morning with a clear round to ensure qualification to the jump-off, where the duo then flew across the arena and over the obstacles in a time of 36.84.
There was some stiff opposition still to come but no one could improve upon that standard, Giles Müller (SUI) the closest at almost three-quarters of a second away with Giavanna CB.
Later on Saturday, another youngster, the newly crowned Longines FEI Rising Star of 2025, Tom Wachman grabbed fifth in the Coupe de Genève, the 1.60m jump-off class, with Do It Easy, the hometown fans going delirious with a Swiss 1-2 in the shape of Steve Guerdat (Albfuehren’s Iashin Sitte) and Martin Fuchs (Conner Jei).
Also on Saturday, Conor Swail was runner-up at the other international five-star event of the week in Thermal, California, combining with Theo 160 to split Colombia representatives Mark Bluman, on board Phelina De Septon, and Roberto Teran Tafur, with Condar.
Ten of the 33 combinations participating progressed to the jump-off of the 1.50m Winning Round competition, and the push for milliseconds produced six casualties, leaving only four double clears.
Swail and Theo have always had gears and combined with the necessary jumping accuracy, were able to claim an outstanding silver medal thanks to a time of 34.17, eight tenths of a second ahead of Teran Tafur and a similar margin behind Bluman.
Less than 24 hours after his brother Trevor had just missed out on a podium finish in a 1.45m speed class with Konrad Obolensky at the four-star event in Abu Dhabi, Shane Breen did make it, looking through the ears of BP Arctic Blue as they challenged strongly in the two-phase class on Saturday.
It was Syria’s Shady Ghrayeb who prevailed with a speed time of 26.99 on Cabernet de Mars, but Arctic Blue was right on their tail, the nine-year-old grey accurate and fast, just slipping into the bronze medal position by one-hundredth of a second from Abdel Saïd (BEL) and Double Fancy VDM Z with a time of 27.38.
Richard Howley finished second in a Grand Prix Qualifier on the third week of the three-star Autumn Mediterranean Equestrian Tour on Friday, piloting Caprice d’Elle to a clear round in the 1.45m speed class in 57.24.
Andres Vereecke (BEL) was a little over a quarter of a second too hot with Halima van het Bonte Hof Z edging just inside the 57-second barrier. Last week’s Grand Prix winner, Niall Talbot was fourth with Fts Elliot.
Paraic Kenny climbed the highest step of the podium as a result of Ganele De Rie Z cruising to success in the two-star speed class at Reisenbeck on Friday.
Kenny was very cool on his eight-year-old chestnut, who left the minimum of air between his feet and the obstacles, and was quickly away from them. They left no one else with a chance of glory as the pair went clear in 67.49, more than one and three-quarter seconds ahead of Micky Morssinkhof (NED) in second with the vastly more experienced Quintendros E.
Jack Ryan was an even more definitive two-star winner in Lier the same day with Susan Fitzpatrick’s Keatingstown Mister Cool. The duo had more than two seconds to spare from Mia Marleen Lanno (EST) with Activity Z, in a 1.45m jump-off class, recording a double clear with a decisive time of 32.47 that blew the opposition away.
And the unrelated Thomas Ryan claimed the 1.45m jump-off class at the Azelhof show on Sunday with Millions Grey in a tighter affair, the eight-year-old grey still too fast for the opposition with a tiebreak time of 38.56, to prevail by almost three-quarters of a second.
CSF JAMES KANN CRUZ (ISH) – 2013 gelding by Kannan (KWPN) out of CSF Telly Cruz (ISH) by Cruising (ISH)[TIH]. Breeder: Patrick Connolly, Co Galway. Owner: Gizmo Partners, LLC. Rider: Shane Sweetnam (IRL).
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