Irish Show Jumping enjoyed several impressive results across the globe at the weekend, with the highlight being a podium finish for Cork Olympian Shane Sweetnam and the Patrick Connolly-bred gelding CSF James Kann Cruz (ISH).
They secured a third place finish in Saturday's $500,000 five-star Grand Prix at Wellington International in Florida, USA.
Just five combinations jumped clear in the first round with Sweetnam going on to complete a double clear performance to finish third.
World No 10 McLain Ward (USA) took victory with High Star Hero, while Mark Bluman (COL) filled runner-up spot riding Landon de Nyze, with less than a second separating the top three.
Irish riders had earlier dominated Thursday's $116,100 Adequan WEF Challenge Cup Rd 7 in Wellington, filling three of the top four places.
Offaly's Darragh Kenny and Eddy Blue came out on top, just ahead of Wexford's Bertram Allen in second with Qonquest De Rigo, while Meath's Cian O'Connor also took fourth place for Ireland with Ulysses. Darragh Kenny later went on to take runner-up spot in Sunday's $62,500 Hermès 1.50m.
Victory went to French rider Nina Mallevaey and Destine to Be.
Meanwhile in the Middle East, Kildare's Mikey Pender and the Marion Hughes-bred HHS Los Angeles (ISH) came out on top in Friday's Grand Prix qualifier at the five-star World Cup show in Sharjah, UAE. Their clear in 64.20 seconds saw them push Sweden's Henrik von Eckermann and Calizi into second place.
Irish riders went on to fill the top two places in Sunday's five-star two-phase class in Sharjah. Tipperary's Trevor Breen galloped to victory with the nine-year-old gelding Konrad Obolensky, while Pender claimed runner-up spot aboard HHS Orchidee (ISH) who was bred in Ireland by Miguel Bravo.
Shane Breen also took fifth place for the Irish with Scarteen. Shane Breen and the 10-year-old gelding BP Arctic Blue would finish best of the Irish when taking fourth spot in Sunday's five-star Sharjah Grand Prix, with victory going to Belgium's Abdel Saïd and Quaker Brimbelles Z.
Back in Europe, Tipperary's Denis Lynch and the 11-year-old mare Katja stormed to victory in Saturday's 1m50 Prize of Agria at Gothenburg five-star World Cup show in Sweden. Lynch's clear in 55.16 seconds left him with over a second to spare over Brazilian runner-up Yuri Mansur and Mister Jup (56.36) while third place went to Germany's Sandra Auffarth and Comcador OLD (59.58).
There was also success in Spain for several Irish horses and riders. Just a week after making her Longines League Of Nations debut for Ireland in the Middle East, Tyrone's Niamh McEvoy added to her great run of form by taking an impressive win in Saturday's 1m45 jump-off class at Vejer De la Frontera four-star show. She partnered the 12-year-old gelding Jargon DN to victory after a hugely competitive 13-horse jump-off.
The 16-year-old Irish mare WKD Aimez Moi (ISH), bred in Co Antrim by Joanne Sloan Allen and ridden by Sameh El Dahan (GBR) went on to claim victory in Sunday's four-star 1m50 Medium Tour Grand Prix in Vejer. Kilkenny's Susan Fitzpatrick finished as runner-up aboard Guedelon Batilly, while Niamh McEvoy finished sixth with the Austin Broderick-bred BP Rocket Man (ISH).
