Limerick-born Shane Carey won a two-star Grand Prix at Sopot in Poland for the second week running on Sunday with Maria Gretzer’s Fecybelle.
A dozen combinations qualified for the jump-off of the 1.45m competition where, among 10 double clears, Sweden-based Carey and Gretzer’s nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare set the fastest time of 37.90. Poland’s Adam Grzegorzewski finished second on Okarino (38.49) while Austria’s Gerfried Puck slotted into third with For Fun VT (39.70).
On Saturday, Carey filled the top two placings in the 1.40m class, finishing first on Ben Maher and Emilie Martinsen’s 11-year-old Boomerang (42.12), another Dutch Warmblood, while he was second on his own and Johan Ifversen’s Quinn (43.99).
Carey recorded the only wins for Irish show jumpers at the weekend but Switzerland-based Mark McAuley had a profitable few days in Dubai culminating with a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s FEI World Cup Arab League Emirates 1.60m Grand Prix.
Riding the 10-year-old gelding Vivaldi du Theil, the Co Louth native picked up a single time fault in round one and had a pole down over the jump-off course as Swiss rider Janika Sprunger won with the faster of two double clears on Bacardi VDL. This coming weekend, McAuley, Derry’s David Simpson and the Co Tipperary brothers, Shane and Trevor Breen, will be competing in Sharjah.
Across the Atlantic, Co Kerry’s Captain Brian Cournane finished third in Saturday night’s two-star Grand Prix, the feature class of week two of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.
Riding the 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding Armik, which is owned by his parents-in-law, Bob and Christine Stiller, Cournane briefly held the lead when clear in the jump-off round in 38.48. However, that time was bettered by the USA’s Mario Deslauriers on board Amsterdam 27 (36.59) and Lauren Hough with Valinski S (37.28).
On Sunday, Co Offaly-born Kevin Mealiff partnered Ever D’Hoogpoort into fourth place (39.21) in the 1.45m Classic won by Japan’s Shota Ogomori on SIG Captain America (37.26). Competition in week three of the WEF, which commences on Wednesday, moves up to three-star level.
