No one could rival Conor Swail in the Paris Grand Prix

A young Irish rider (36 years of age), Conor Swail performed wonderfully on Sunday and won the competition with one of the most impressive line up of competitors who have been present in Paris for many years.

Eleven riders were qualified for the jump off and the rider, who is based in the county of Malahide, won the competition magnificently, riding the 9 year old Dutch stallion, Rivaal. He preceded Eugénie Angot and Jérôme Hurel, who were in the lead in the provisional line for a long time.

To finish three days of competition at the Jumping International de Paris, the long –awaited 5 star Grand Prix GDE took place in very good conditions. At the beginning, 35 riders with fifteen different nationalities, who make up some of the world’s 150 best riders, competed on the course designed by Frédéric Cottier and his team.

Then Robert Breul decided to retire after his horse Iasco Mouche refused an obstacle and the young German rising star Daniel Deusser had eight faults. Eleven riders were qualified for the jump off by avoiding the course’s technical difficulties. And so the battle for the first place got underway.

Eugénie Angot was first to go with her mare Ilostra Dark and set the tone with a clear round with a time of 36’94, which was a reference for a long moment… The Swiss rider Beät Mandli who was competing with Idéo Thot, was a likely contender to win the competition, but in the end it was the young Irish rider Conor Swail, who took the lead from the French rider, with Rivaal, establishing a new time of 36’08.

Let us highlight that Rivaal who belongs to Conor Swail, was participating for the first time in a competition of this kind. The rider won the sum of € 37 000 of the total € 150 000 of the prize money of the Grand Prix which was associated for the first time with GDE Environment. Finally, France had to settle for 2nd and 3rd positions in the competition, thanks to Eugénie Angot and Jérôme Hurel respectively.

Results (02.12.07)

CSI***** Paris – France
Grand Prix – AM5

1º Conor Swail (Irl) /Rivaal / 0 / 0 – 36,08
2º Eugenie Angot (Fra) / Ilostra Dark / 0 / 0 – 36,94
3º Jerome Hurel (Fra) /Kho De Presle / 0 / 0 – 37,26
4º Albert Zoer (Hol) / Okidoki / 0 / 0 – 37,82
5º Alvaro De Miranda (Bra) / Picolien / 0 / 4 – 36,4
6º Bernardo Alves (Bra) / Chupa Chup 2 / 0 / 4 – 38,99
7º Patrice Delaveau (Fra) /Katchina Mail / 0 / 8 – 40,61
8º Beat Mändli (Sui) / Ideo Du Thot / 0 / 8 – 43,71
9º Julien Epaillard (Fra) /Kanthaka De Petra / 0 / 16 – 39,39
10º Jessica Kurten (Irl) / Libertina / 0 / 16 – 57,4

Check the results