Conor Swail had good week at first show jumping event of season

May 20, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Bill Rea
Conor Swail always seems to do well when he competes locally, and that was certainly the case Sunday.
He was on top of Sunday’s field in the $50,000 RAM Equestrian Grand Prix at Caledon Pan Am Equestrian Park in Palgrave.
There were 17 horse and rider combinations in the field. Swail, riding Simba de la Roque, belonging to Susan Grange of Cheltenham, was one of just two to post a clear round. He was joined in the jump-off by Ian Millar of Perth on Baranus.
Swail, from Ireland, but who’s currently based out of Cheltenham, was first in the ring and set a blistering pace, completing the course in just 36.6 seconds. Millar knew he had a tough act to follow. But he commented that one advantage to going second was he was able to see the hoof prints of Swail’s mount, meaning he was able to stay inside of that performance, possibly cutting a couple of seconds off his time. The whole issue became academic when Millar knocked a rail down, meaning second place was all he was going to get.
“That horse he was riding was particularly quick,” Millar observed of Simba de la Roque. “If I kept going like that, we’d have been within a second.”
“If you’re going to get beat, you might as well get beat by someone who’s that good,” he added.
Swail said it was a tough course, since only two combinations got through it clear, with one jump in particular causing a lot of trouble.
He also said he realized the need for speed in the jump-off when he realized Millar was going to be following him. “You know you have a world-class rider behind you,’ he observed.
He also knew he had a fast horse and wasn’t interested in finishing second.
“You can never take things for granted, so i needed to make it very difficult for (Millar),” he added.
Two other riders managed to get through the course without knocking any rails down. Keean White of Rockwood didn’t collect any jumping faults on For Freedom Z, but they were a fraction of a second too long. Christian Sorensen of Caledon was also clear aboard Zellobee, but he was about a second and a half over the allowed time, earning himself a time fault.
Fifth place was taken by Susan horn of Bolton on Her Courchevel, followed by Jordan Macpherson of Toronto on Aanwinst and White on his other mount, Sombrero Brimbelles.
Swail had two entries, the other being on Ariana, also owned by Grange, but they collected eight jumping faults, good for ninth place.
Sunday wrapped up a pretty successful week for Swail, as he also won Friday’s $35,000 Alberta Premium Open on Simba de la Roque. Amy Millar of Perth was second on Heros, followed by Vanessa Mannix on Nirvana de Terlong, Elizabeth Gingras of Coup De Chance, Horn on Balintore, Sorensen on Bobby and Ian Millar on Baranus.
Staff at the Equestrian Park are now into what promises to be a very busy season of competition, as dressage and show jumping events for the Pan Am Games will be held there.
Millar was very enthused as he described the facility.
“It’s beyond words,” he declared, adding it’s one of the best in North America. “It’s going to be the best Pan American facility I’ve ever attended, and I’ve attended lots of them.”