WITH Cork’s Shane Sweetnam having opened Week Ten of the Winter
Equestrian Festival in Florida with a win, it was left to Kilkenny’s Richie
Moloney to close proceedings last night (Sunday) with both a first and third
place.
Moloney qualified two horses for the jump-off in the Suncast 1m50
Championship Jumper Classic, taking the lead first with Equinimity LLC’s Elouise
de Muze in 38.45 seconds to eventually finish third. Sixteen-year-old Joao
Victor Castro of Brazil briefly took over in 38.25 seconds with Wamira, but
settled for second when Moloney returned with his next mount, Equinimity LLC’s
Alsvid, last to go, to secure the win in 36.94 seconds. Â
Moloney won
this same 1m50 class on week ten in 2013 with the Irish Sport Horse Slieveanorra
and had the added inspiration to defend his title this year. “I just remembered
that I won it last year, so I was a little bit motivated to do it again, and I
wore the same jacket,” Moloney pointed out.
Class winner, Alsvid, is a
13-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Escudo I x Azur and Elouise de Muze is a
10-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare by Nabab de Reve x Darco.
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“She is
pretty green and this is her first 1.50m this year, so I was very happy with
her,” Moloney stated. “It is her first time to go that quick in the jump-off,
and she was close enough.”
“The second one, I probably would not have
gone as quick with, except that I knew I wasn’t in the lead anymore with the
other,” Moloney laughed. “He was very good. He is a horse that I have had since
I started the job with Equinimity, and he is a lovely horse to work with. They
have owned him since he was five as far as I know, and he is always knocking on
the door, so he was due a result. It is nice for him.”
Moloney has had a
good Winter Equestrian Festival circuit, including a fourth place finish with
the Irish team in week eight’s $75,000 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup, aboard
Carrabis Z.
Shane Sweetnam with the Irish Sport Horse Solerina opened the
week at Wellington on Wednesday with victory in the $34,000 1m45 speed
class.
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