Olympic partners Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (ISH) just missed out on a famous transatlantic victory when posting a second five-star runner-up finish in 48 hours in the $400,000 Hampton Classic Grand Prix on Sunday night.
The dynamic duo had also been the bridesmaids in the Grand Prix Qualifier in Bridgehampton, New York, 48 hours earlier, when Jonathan Corrigan was just behind on the podium having also recorded an outstanding double clear with Darius de Kerglenn.
This came in a week where Trevor Breen posted three top-five finishes at the five-star Brussells Stephex Masters and also jumped clear in the Nations Cup, securing fifth in the Rolex Grand Prix with clear-round machine Highland President, and third and fourth with Konrad Obolensky in two other classes. Cian O'Connor also secured a five-star podium finish with Canbella Blue PS.
There was also a landmark victory for Mark McAuley in Gijon, with a first at four-star level for Fury Nocturne just four weeks after the duo had bagged a three-star double in Samorin, while back in New York, Conor O’Regan was victorious in two-star competition with Manchester at the HITS Hudson Valley Show in Saugerties.
The Hampton Classic Horse Show celebrated its 50th anniversary by putting more than $1m up for grabs and a huge chunk of that was up on offer in the feature on Sunday night.
And Sweetnam and Connolly Stud Farm’s most famous graduate made a bold bid to leave the illustrious venue with most of that.
The fabulous pair, who were third in the Rolex Grand Prix of Ireland at the Dublin Horse Show, registered one of only three clear rounds in the fiendishly difficult 1.60m class, Kristen Vanderveen (USA) being the first to pass the test on Bull Run's Jireh, before Briton Jessica Mendoza went clear on In The Air.
Sweetnam and Gizmo Partners’ gallant grey completed the jump-off field and had the advantage of knowing exactly what they needed to do in the tie-breaker, with Mendoza going clear in a time of 37.34. They gave it a good shot but unfortunately, it was a second silver medal of the week, as they stopped the clock on 37.90.
"I was very happy with my horse," Sweetnam said afterwards. "He’s a very different horse (from Jessica’s). He spends a bit of time in the air and is a bit of a slower horse, so I did my plan close enough to what I thought would be enough to challenge. He jumped great. In hindsight, I could have taken a few more gambles."
Earlier in the week, it looked as if Gizmo and his Cork rider would take the lion’s share of the funds on offer for the five-star Grand Prix Qualifier but they were denied by the final horse-and-rider combination into the Grand Prix Ring, high-flying American, McLain Ward with High Star Hero.
Only six survived the initial test of 16 jumping efforts on the 1.60m course. None of them knocked a rail in the jump-off.
That made speed of the absolute essence and it was Meath native Corrigan that secured third with a time of 38.39, while Sweetnam improved on that with his great grey stopping the clock in 37.51.
It was Ward that took all the marbles however, dipping under 37 seconds with a time of 36.84 to add to his tally of top-tier triumphs.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Breen and Highland President were fifth in the five-star Rolex Grand Prix in Brussells.
The €100,000 Audi and €65,000 cash for first went to France’s Nina Mallevaey with Dynastie de Beaufour but a tremendous double clear by Breen and the 13-year-old gelding owned by Heather Black was enough to earn €30,000.
Breen warmed up for his Nations Cup clear on Friday by speeding to third in the five-star 1.45m two-phase class on Konrad Obolensky on Thursday, finishing just over a second off Jérôme Guery, who provide the locals in the Sablon Arena with a home victory on board Great Britain V.
The winner clocked a time of 35.20 in the pace section, which was just more than a second quicker than that recorded by Breen and his eight-year-old grey.
The Tipperary man and his talented youngster were very competitive once more in a five-star 1.45m speed class in the same ring on Friday, when fourth.
Martin Fuchs (SUI) claimed the spoils in comfortable enough fashion with Love de Vie, posting a clear round in 61.80 seconds but Breen was only four-tenths of a second off the middle berth of the podium with his time of 63.87 on the progressive eight-year-old grey gelding.
Also on Friday, O’Connor climbed one rung of the ladder further when earning a bronze medal for his efforts with Canbella Blue PS in the five-star 1.50m Grand Prix Qualifier won by Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Lancelotta.
