A strong Irish duo of Darragh Kenny and Conor Swail left their mark on Sunday evening’s feature class at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, taking one third and two joint fourth places from a starting field of 60.
Once again Offaly's Kenny piloted two horses into the top five, claiming a third place on the Irish Sport Horse Gatsby and a fourth with the gelding Picolo.
Co Down-born Swail and the mare Martha Louise shared fourth place with Kenny - both combinations finishing on a time of 38.47 seconds in the final round.
On Friday night, Kenny won the 1m 45 speed class at Wellington's Palm Beach Equestrian Centre with Picolo, and also took the runner-up spot with Gatsby. Swail had featured on Friday as well, claiming fourth place on Grand Cru vd JIJF Eiken.
Last night, Kenny was seventh to go in a 20-horse jump-off with the talented grey stallion Gatsby, and held onto pole position until they were eventually overtaken by the USA's Todd Minikus on Quality Girl and the eventual winner, American Olympic team gold medallist McLain Ward with HH Carlos Z.
The Offaly rider collected almost €15,000 for his two top-five places, while Swail won €5,000. US winner Ward, meanwhile, received €20,000.
