THERMAL, Calif.--Conor Swail on Theo 160, first to go, led all the way to win the $32,000, CSI4* 1.45m Speed on Wednesday, March 11 at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal.

Conor Swail on Theo 160 (Photo by High Desert Sport Photo)While many see being the first in the order of go as a disadvantage, Swail said that wasn't true with this horses.

“Theo 160 is very nervous of traffic, so he’s actually much happier going early,” said Swail. “He’s been wonderful the whole circuit. Last week, he was second and third in two classes. He was unlucky not to win something last week. So, it’s great that he went in and jumped so well today again.”

Swail finished clean in 61.50 seconds.

 

“HONESTLY, the round itself was one of those rounds that I didn’t really feel that I could do any more than what I did,” said Swail. “Theo was fantastic. All the numbers came up as well as they could. I just felt that if I had to go in and do it another 10 times or 50 times, I couldn’t have improved it. So, I was very happy with wherever I finished up.”

Swail also placed second with a time of 63.44 seconds on Casturano.

“I’m very happy with ‘Stan’ as well,” said Swail. “He jumped a very good round. Normally, I save him for the grand prix, but this week, I’m just going to do a couple of smaller classes. This is going to be my last show before the [2026 FEI World Cup Finals in Fort Worth], so that’s his sort of plan this week. I was pleased that he jumped great too, and he sort of enjoyed himself.”

Skylar Wireman on Coolio 23 was third, clean in 63.67.