Wellington, Florida, USA – April 15, 2021 – Earlier in the day, Ireland’s Conor Swail piloted Gamble, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Asta Torokvei, to a victory in the $6,000 Bainbridge Companies 1.40m jumpers CSI3*. A starting field of 65 entries challenged the two-phase format, with Swail posting a double-clear effort and stopping the clock in an impressive 30.80 seconds in the jump-off portion.
“Every time you go in the ring, he gives you 100 percent, which is very pleasing,” said Swail of the gelding by Vingino x Indoctro. “My plan was to have a nice jump around. There was one inside turn, and I did six [strides] to the double combination, which was a little long. The idea in the second phase with him is always just to canter along a little bit because he does enjoy doing that and I think it does help his jumping performance as well. This is all obviously to set him up for Friday’s class, as I want to be able to have a good round with him tomorrow.”
Gamble was originally imported from Europe by Torokvei as a four-year-old. Three years ago, she gave the ride to Swail, who has moved him up from the 1.25m level and into the bigger international classes since then. As the partnership continues to grow, a change in bits this past fall has helped the gelding reach even greater heights.
“I decided to put him into a hackamore when we were in Europe,” he said. “For me, it seemed to just loosen up his shoulder a little bit and it helps prevent me from interfering with his front end as much whenever I’m balancing and trying to get a good spot for him to jump from. His shoulder works really well, and he seems to like it a lot. I was really happy with the way he jumped today.”
Final Results – $6,000 Bainbridge Companies CSI 3*
1) Conor Swail (IRL) & Gamble – 0 / 0 – 30.802
2) Margie Engle (USA) & Cesna M – 0 / 0 – 32.737
3) Enrique Gonzalez (MEX) & Parrandero – 0 / 0 – 33.53
Source: Press Release by Kate Pettersen for ESP – Equestrian Sports Productions
Photo: © Sportfot
Categories: CSI 3*, English, Jumper News Ireland
