Conor Swail & Vital Chance de La Roque’s Winning Streak Continues in the Californian Desert

By Jumper News on 2024-02-09

Thermal, California, USA – February 08, 2023 – Conor Swail (IRL) is starting week five, presented by Premier Equestrian, the same way he ended week four: winning. Aboard the same mount he won Sunday’s final class on, Vital Chance de La Roque, he won Thursday’s feature class, the $30,000 FarmVet 1.45m Open Classic.

“That was a very nice round he did today; I was very happy with ‘Vinny’,” Swail reflected on the speed round. He was close to the tail end of the order with his second of two rides. “I got to see a lot of horses today; I rode one myself and had a nice round. It was a tricky enough course; a lot of turns and a lot of rollbacks. I thought it was a nice course but you had to do everything quite correctly.”

With Kelvin Bywater (GBR) designing, 30 horse-and-rider combinations went into speed mode to try to take the top call. Swail went early with Gamble, taking over the lead and doing a very bold inside turn that only he was brave enough to try.

**Conor Swail** (IRL) & **Vital Chance de La Roque**

“Gamble is the only horse that I have that can do that honestly,” he said of the sharp turn. “When he lands the first step you can go straight in whatever direction you want. Normally when you land you need at least two steps before you can turn in one direction or the other, but he’s so good at it that I knew I could do it with him. Unfortunately he has such a big step that he’s not the quickest in this sand ring but he jumped a fabulous round so I was delighted with him too.”

Gamble ended up third, and the only pair separating his two rides was Kyle King (USA) with Patricia Vasey’s Odysseus. King took over the lead, just to have Swail come right in and take it back.

Though Vinny has been a reliable partner of Swail’s for years, especially at this venue, they’re still trying new things with him. Their method of preparing the horse has evolved, as it usually does in a long-term partnership, and Swail warmed Vinny up in a different bit than he actually used in the show ring.

“I’ve been toying around a wee bit,” Swail said of the equipment he tried today. “I’m sure everyone knows he used to go in a hackamore and he was famous for the hackamore and no shoes. Now we actually have shoes on and the hackamore wasn’t suiting him so we got away from that.”

Putting the hackamore back on for the first few warm-up fences, Swail wasn’t convinced it was the way to go. “We’ve been playing around with different bits over the last period of time and actually this was the first time I used it on him,” he explained. “It’s Theo’s bridle which Theo is very good in. He warmed up nicely but the last few jumps on him he started to not love it. I thought, ‘Let’s go back to the bit he won in last Sunday’. I did two jumps with that and he felt very good and rideable in it.”

Like all of Swail’s mounts, Vinny is showing true consistency and promise back at the higher level, though the 1.45m fence height was a step down from CSI 4* action the week prior. Swail has a powerhouse of a string of horses and is sure to be a favorite as the rest of Desert Circuit picks up speed.

“I’m very happy with Vinny. The consistency is starting to show a bit. He was very solid today so I’m delighted,” he shared.

Show jumping continues Saturday with the $7,500 Interactive Mortgage 10 & Under Futurity Series and the $100,000 Premier Equestrian Grand Prix with the $20,000 Perfect Products U25 Overlay.