WELLINGTON, Fla.--Irish Olympian Shane Sweetnam on Coriaan van Klapscheut Z won the $215,000, CSI4* Grand Prix on the grass derby field at the Winter Equestrian Festival on Saturday, Jan. 31.
Shae Sweetnam on Coriaan van Klapscheut Z (Photo by Sportfot)Freezing evening temperatures of around 30 degrees in Florida caused the Grand Prix to be moved from 7 p.m. Saturday evening to the derby field in the afternoon.
From a field of 19, six advanced to the jump-off over the course set by Anderson Lima of Brazil, with five of those going clean again,
Third to go in the jump-off, Sweetnam shaved three seconds off the then leading time, finishing clean in 41.40 seconds to eventually win.
“I thought it would take more time to get this horse to this level, but I didn’t have many horses when he stepped up to FEI last year,” said Sweetnam, who has ridden the 10-year-old gelding since the middle of 2024. “His first week here last year, he’d never done an FEI class and was second in the WEF Challenge Cup. He took to it like a duck to water and was very competitive from the start, even though he was green. He really wants to leave the jumps up.”
BERTRAM ALLEN of Ireland on Conquest de Rigo was second, a half second back in 41.95 seconds with Natalie Dean on Mr. Bombastic third in 44.03, Jamie Winning-Kermond of Australia on Tulara Wat Colblensky fourth in 44.59 and Blythe Karolyi on Kingston fifth in 47.08.
“We’ve been second a lot, which was my year last year, so it’s nice to have him put me up one spot and get the win,” said Sweetnam. “With horses, they’ll tell you what the plan is, especially at this level, but he’s comfortable already, and now we can smooth it out.”
Sweetnam was sent a video of Coriaan van Klapscheut Z during the summer of 2024 and made an impromptu trip to Sweden to try the horse, previously owned by Abdel Saïd.
“It was worth the trip,” said Sweetnam.
“He’s a funny character; very smart, not spooky but quite sharp about his surroundings,” said Sweetnam,
Natalie Dean also won the Martha Jolicoeur, Douglas Elliman Leading Lady Rider Award for her consistent results throughout the week.
