Swail Speeds to $40K NYC Win

By Staff Report September 25, 2015

Ireland’s Conor Swail and Simba De La Roque got show jumping started at the second annual Rolex Central Park Horse Show, with a victory in the $40,000 FEI Speed Class Thursday last night. Todd Minikus (USA) and Quality Girl placed second, with Daniel Bluman (COL) and Concreto Believe in third.

Course designer Guilherme Jorge of Brazil set the track for this opening round to the U.S. Open $212,000 FEI 3* Grand Prix, presented by Rolex on Friday, Sept. 25. Twenty-seven competed in the speed test with faults converting to points and carrying over to today’s big event.

Swail and Simba –owned by  are having a good run, having just topped the $125,000 New Albany Classic last week. He purchased the horse in November from French rider Marie Hecart, whose father bred the horse. The nine-year-old gelding had a few different owners, but was reconnected with Hecart last year when she was hired aboard. “He is very fast,” said Swail, who has had amazing results on him from the get-go, having won two of their first four classes together at WEF. “He seems to have plenty of power, and he has a big stride.”

Yet for yesterday’s win, Swail credited his horse with catlike moves the ability to stay focused in unusual surroundings — the converted  Wollman Rink ice-skating venue, with Manhattan looming in the background. “The 1-2-3 horses are all very careful and very shifty with quickness off the ground. You need to be on something that can be that way in this atmosphere. Now and again you try and make the horse fit the venue and I think it’s working so far,” Swail said afterward.

Daniel Bluman concurred: “It’s about picking a horse that can jump like it’s an indoor competition. You also have to have a horse that can walk into a very impressive venue right off the bat, feel comfortable with the crowd and rise up to the occasion.” For his part, Minikus felt he “overrode the first jump,” but said Quality Girl quickly recovered.  “She felt on her game and we just tried to stay on the same page the whole way around,” Minikus said.

Swail — who participated in 2014’s inaugural Central Park Horse Show, taking top individual honors in the $50,000 “NYC vs. The World” Team Speed Challenge — expressed gratitude for once again being asked to join party at this invitational event, extending a special thanks to class sponsor Canadian Pacific Railway “for their dedication to promoting the sport.”

Canadian Pacific’s president and COO Keith Creel, said at the press conference following the class that the show had “exceeded expectations again. It’s just an incredibly special place for a competition and was first class, and we’re so happy to be a part of it.”

This 2015 iteration was the launchpad for the U.S. Open concept at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show, which show producer Mark Bellissimo, CEO of the International Equestrian Group, would like to see expand even further. “We’re already seeing the riders bringing their better horses this year and I think it will just continue in the right direction,” Bellissimo said. “Over time, we want this to be one of the greatest stops in show jumping. Bringing something to the market like this is very different and I think there’s an amazing opportunity for the sport here.”

The Rolex Central Park Horse Show continues through Sunday, Sept. 27, and this year has added competition for Arabians, dressage and hunters in addition to the show jumping that is the centerpiece of the event. While cashing in on their share of the $212,000 purse for Friday’s Grand Prix Presented by Rolex, the winning show jumper rider will be presented with an additional $25,000 for the U.S. Open honor.

Earlier on Thursday, Bellissimo’s daughter Nicole Bellissimo won the U.S. Open $25,000 Under 25 Grand Prix riding Harley Davidson. The young Bellissimo trains with Los Angeles-born-turned- East-Coast-transplant Candice King, who is based in Wellington, FL

Final Results: U.S. Open $40,000 FEI Speed, presented by Canadian Pacific Railway
Place Entry # Horse Rider Time
1 5 SIMBA DE LA ROQUE CONOR SWAIL 57.36
2 23 QUALITY GIRL TODD MINIKUS 58.10
3 21 CONCONCRETO BELIEVE DANIEL BLUMAN 59.33
4 2 NEW YORK HARDIN TOWELL 61.57
5 4 UCEKO KENT FARRINGTON 62.17
6 26 CONTHENDRIX ANDRE THIEME 62.27
7 41 CALENO 3 GEORGINA BLOOMBERG 63.32
8 7 HH CISKE VAN OVERIS MAGGIE MCALARY 63.88
9 72 KISMET 50 CANDICE KING 64.21
10 10 ROBIN DE PONTHUAL PETER LUTZ 64.85
11 22 CAT BALLOU MOLLY ASHE-CAWLEY 66.30
12 24 WARRANT KIRSTEN COE 67.07

Final Results: U.S. Open $25,000 Under 25 Grand Prix
Place Entry # Horse Rider Faults/Time
1 73 HARLEY DAVID NICOLE BELLISSIMO 0/0/38.07
2 64 CHAMONIX H KELLI CRUCIOTTI 0/4/37.31
3 34 BEEZIE HAYLEY BARNHILL 0/4/37.34
4 30 HARRIRI V.D. MALTAHOEVE ABIGAIL MCARDLE 0/8/37.76
5 29 BON GIORNO BRYN SADLER 1/78.09
6 28 HESTER LUCY DESLAURIERS 4/70.51
7 35 LUXINA MICHAEL HUGHES 4/76.01
8 86 ALL IN KATHERINE STRAUSS 8/72.52

 

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