THERMAL, Calif.--Ireland’s Conor Swail on Theo 160 won the CSI3*, $32,000 Welcome Speed on Wednesday, Feb. 19 on the Grass Field at Desert International Horse Park in Desert Circuit 7.
Conor Swail on Theo 160 accompanied by his dog Ralph (Photo by High Desert Sport Photo)Eduardo Pereira de Menezes of Brazil on H5 Kontador VDM won the CSI5*, $32,000, 1.45m Two Phase at the Winter Equestrian Festival on the same day.
Despite being only the second pair to go the Welcome Speed, Swail set a time that would stand untouched.
Through the remainder of the class, no one came within even three seconds of Swail's winning time of 65.87 seconds.
Kaitlin Campbel on Cosm Questa VD Heffinck, the last to go in the Speed, finished second in 69.52 seconds, and Tiffany Foster of Canada on Anton was third in 71.50 seconds.
“All the numbers came up lovely for Theo, and he is a quick, competitive horse,” said Swail. “I must say, he jumped beautifully today. This is his first time out on the grass this year. He has been here before on the grass, and he is very good on it. I was very pleased with the size of his step and how easily he went around. It was very smooth.”
“WE HAD a bit of rain overnight there, but honestly the Grass Field felt super good," said Swail. "They were really jumping very confidently off it, so it was great. It was a great result for him.”
Swail has been riding the 14-year-old Holsteiner geldinh in FEI competition for nearly five years, and in that span, the pair has notched dozens of victories, including many at Desert International Horse Park.
“He likes it here in the desert; he has a good record here,” said Swail. “He has won a few grand prix here, and I hope we continue just to keep up the good results and the good confidence.”
At WEF, in the Two Phase, 18 of the field of 33 entries jumped clean in phase one to go on to the second phase, and of those nine were clean again.
De Menezes finished clean in 26.49 for the win, with Nicola Philippaert of Belgium on Derby De Riverland second in 27.09 and Ben Maher of Great Britain on Maddox VH Haringvliet third in 27.37.
