John Tynan
Shane Sweetnam won his first ‘Thursday grand prix’ a fortnight ago with Amaretto D’Arco at the 12-week Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, declaring: “It’s tough to win this class.”
You would imagine the US-based Corkman would consider it a portent of greater things to come, notably tonight, when he will be one of a contingent of eight Irish riders bidding for the major slice of a $500,000 prizefund in the FTI Grand Prix. Not so.
“You never know with show jumping, but we are a good combination and in any big class we always have a chance of winning. I don’t think anyone can make predictions in this sport, as things can change quickly.
“Amaretto is not peaking yet, it’s still early in the year, so it is not necessary. Every time he is in the ring, though, he is there or thereabouts,” said the Kanturk rider, who has been based Stateside for eight years and last year “He has a good brain and has a good mentality does not want to let you down and is very talented. He is always going to have a chance of winning."
Last year, Sweetnam was best of the Irish, with a single mistake in round one leaving him in 18th place.
Also carrying Irish hopes are remaining members of the team that placed second in the nations cup earlier this month. That competition saw Cian O’Connor post a double clear with Blue Loyd; Richie Moloney posted four faults over two rounds with Slieveanorra, but has opted for Ahorn van de Zuuthoeve this time around; Darragh Kerins four faulted each time out with Lisona, and he again goes for the 11-year-old Irish-bred mare, with whom he placed second in last month’s $125,000 World Cup contest. Lisona is by the stallion OBOS Quality, formerly owned by Marie O’Brien. She was bred by Comdt John Ledingham and is owned by Tipperary’s Kevin Babington, who rides Mark Q. The remaining three riders are Andrew Bourns (Roundthorn Madios), Darragh Kenny (Wannahave) and Conor Swail (Oceane de Nantuel).
“The Irish are taking over,” joked Sweetnam. “All have been very consistent this year and we could have had two teams in the nations cup so, hopefully, we will give a good account of ourselves in Saturday’s competition.”
Meanwhile Show Jumping Ireland will begin interviews in a fortnight for a sports development manager, according to chairman Christy Murphy.
The post will entail promoting the sport, sourcing sponsorship, increasing membership and acting as a link between the sub-committees and the executive.
“We hope to have the position filled by the end of April,” said Murphy this week.
He also said that, to his surprise, SJI membership and horse registrations were holding up.
“I was worried. I thought show jumping would be decimated, but there has been no downturn for us.
“For example, our Pony Spring Tour participation is actually growing. There were 390 jumped in the first competition in February at Kildare International Equestrian Centre and it has been holding at over 300 in subsequent venues. I don’t know where the money is coming from.”
“Regarding membership, we allowed for a 5% decrease, but it has proven less. Registrations are holding steady, also.... There will be as many participants this year as last year and our shows affiliations are not down either.”
“We are budgeting to break even or to post a small surplus and, while it is hard to say this so early in the year, we expect to achieve our targets,” said Murphy. When pressed, however, Murphy conceded that the Pony Tour did not necessarily give a true reflection of the sport countrywide.
“There is more success in different areas and I have heard of some centres that are suffering as a result of the recession.”
Anne Waistell of the Irish Show Jumping Centres Group agreed this was the case, saying the group had asked for an rise in points for novice competitions to encourage participation.
“Numbers are not holding up. I have spoken to owners and did a quick survey and 70% are down on entries. In fact some are down from between 20% to 70%. There are lots of factors, including this year’s fine weather, which is bringing people to cross-country events, so the smaller centres are finding it difficult.
“I am also on the SJI executive and, from that perspective, its figures are showing numbers are holding up, but if you delve deeper, they are well down.
“The centres group has asked for the points to be increased for competitions in the 80cms to 1m bracket. We feel it would encourage people to go show jumping. The SJI needs to be proactive.”
Murphy responded: “This request will go through the National Competitions Committee and, if they deem it advantageous, they will recommend it to the national executive.”
Murphy also said the SJI sub-committees were “working very well”, and he he highlighted that an international trial for young riders takes place in Barnadown on the forthcoming Bank Holiday Monday, with a number of British horses travelling. Riders will be vying for a place in the European Championships squad.
The organisers of tomorrow’s Templemartin Hunter Trials are promising a great day out for all the family, with courses to suit all ages and levels of ability. It start at 11am to midday for U12s, and will include the following classes: training pairs, novice pairs, training pony, training horse, novice pony, novice horse and open horse.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/mQApPtvchFo/post.aspx
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