Swail Sails to Victory at 2022 WIHS
Capping a spectacular day of equestrian sport at the 2022 Washington International Horse Show (WIHS), presented by MARS Equestrian™, Ireland’s Conor Swail and Count Me In led the field in the $406,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Washington CSI5*-W for the President’s Cup presented by Experience Prince George’s. Junior phenom Augusta Iwasaki topped the WIHS Equitation Finals and won the Medium Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic, while Ellie Ferrigno notched her second win of the week in the High Junior/Amateur Jumper Classic.
“I had to make sure that I had the course be the same quality as the caliber of riders,” said Cabral, “and actually, I wasn’t that good because I had a little too many clean! It was great to design the five-star here at WIHS. It’s been an honor to be here.”
First to return was Daniel Coyle (IRL) and Legacy, who felled one jump to finish in eighth place in a time of 38.55 seconds. He was followed by Mario Deslauriers (CAN) on Bardolina, who recorded the first double clear of the night in 40.17 seconds, which left them in sixth place. Beat Mändli (SUI) and Chartraine Pre Noir were also clear in a slightly faster time of 39.24 seconds for fifth place.
Next in was Swail on Count Me In, and they made the most of the shortened course, slicing across jumps and shaving precious time off the clock with precision turns. They stopped the timers with no faults in 35.76 seconds, which would hold up for the win.
Riding in front of a full house of spectators in the Show Place Arena at Prince George’s Equestrian Center, 30 entries traversed the grand prix course set by Bernardo Cabral of Portugal. Nine of those found the key to a clear round to return for the jump-off.
“I had to make sure that I had the course be the same quality as the caliber of riders,” said Cabral, “and actually, I wasn’t that good because I had a little too many clean! It was great to design the five-star here at WIHS. It’s been an honor to be here.”
First to return was Daniel Coyle (IRL) and Legacy, who felled one jump to finish in eighth place in a time of 38.55 seconds. He was followed by Mario Deslauriers (CAN) on Bardolina, who recorded the first double clear of the night in 40.17 seconds, which left them in sixth place. Beat Mändli (SUI) and Chartraine Pre Noir were also clear in a slightly faster time of 39.24 seconds for fifth place.
Next in was Swail on Count Me In, and they made the most of the shortened course, slicing across jumps and shaving precious time off the clock with precision turns. They stopped the timers with no faults in 35.76 seconds, which would hold up for the win.
They were followed by Devin Ryan (USA) and Eddie Blue, who recorded a time of 36.87 seconds for fourth place. Brian Moggre (USA) and his longtime partner MTM Vivre le Reve were slick across the course, finishing in 36.74 seconds to slot into third place.
Moggre noted afterward, “The past few shows haven’t really been our best results, so I didn’t have many expectations other than knowing he was going to try his hardest. I maybe didn’t take as much risk as I normally would, but he jumped amazing and I’m super happy with the result.”
“It’s always great to have a nice result with the horse that you’ve had for so long,” said Moggre of his 13-year-old Westphalian gelding by Ustinov x Chello II owned by Major Wager LLC, “so to have Vivre le Reve back here still jumping top sport after seven years of partnership, every time I get to go in the ring with him is a blessing.”
Moggre was immediately followed in the jump-off order by Daniel Bluman (ISR) riding Gemma W. The pair gave Swail a run for his money but would not be fast enough with a final time of 36 seconds flat to finish in second place.
“It doesn’t sound like much but at the end of the day, it is,” said Bluman of being just off the pace from Swail. “It’s a split second that is really separating all of us. I didn’t get to see his jump-off, but I knew if I performed the way that I wanted and rode my plan that I had a pretty good chance to beat it. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in one of the bending lines from the oxer to the liverpool, and I think if you want to beat Conor Swail right now, you can’t make any mistakes.”
A top competitor for Bluman, Gemma W is “a really special mare,” he said. “She always wants to play the game. She enjoys it, and I’m very pleased with the way she performed this week.”
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Swail Sails to Victory at 2022 WIHS (jumpmediallc.com)
