Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083 (Sportfot)
Week five of the FTI WEF circuit, sponsored by Adequan®, runs February 6-10. The remainder of the week will feature the $82,000 Adequan® CSI 2* Grand Prix on Saturday evening and the $25,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic on Sunday afternoon. The 2013 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival features 12 weeks of competition running from January 9-March 31, 2013, and awards almost $7 million in prize money throughout the circuit.
Shane Sweetnam and Cyklon 1083 were the winners in Friday's $6,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.40m Speed Challenge jumping a track set by Olympic course designer Bob Ellis. Fifty-six entries contested the class with 16 clear rounds and a win for the pair in 65.339 seconds. Sweetnam and Cyklon, a twelve-year-old Swedish Warmblood stallion by Cardento x Cortus, won over Alexander Zetterman and Canora's time of 66.844 seconds. Daniela Cordero and Don Chiqui placed third in 71.094 seconds.
Spy Coast Farm bought Cyklon as a new mount for Sweetnam last winter and the duo has formed a great partnership. Sweetnam detailed, "From the start it has been very successful with him. We got him around this time last year and we had some good results straight away. During the summer he placed in La Baule, Rome, won a class in St. Gallen, won a class in Spruce Meadows and won a class and was second and third in the Hamptons. He basically wins wherever he goes normally, with a bit of luck."
"He is a little fighter," Sweetnam noted. "He really wants to win and he can sometimes be a little bit hard to ride because he wants to win so much. He doesn't listen all the time, but when we get it right, it seems to work out well."
Commenting on his winning ride in the class, Sweetnam stated, "He had a good round. It felt very smooth and everything worked out. When I finished, I thought it would be hard to beat. There are a lot of good riders here, so you never know, but I was really happy with the way he jumped."
Sweetnam went on to his second victory of the day in the $6,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.40m Jump-Off class riding Beluga. Sixty-six entries showed in that class with 20 competitors qualifying for the jump-off, and ten completing double clear rounds. Sweetnam and Beluga had the fastest time of 31.949 seconds over second place finishers Ben Maher and Dolores, owned by Mrs. Wang, in 32.095 seconds.
Sweetnam has been riding for Spy Coast Farm for six years now and was pleased to win both Spy Coast sponsored classes for owners Robert and Lisa Lourie.
"It is always good to win the classes for Spy Coast, and Lisa Lourie was here to watch us, so she was very excited," he acknowledged. "These were good classes to win."
"We have had a lot of success with a lot of great horses," Sweetnam added. "One of the first ones that we bought was Little Emir and we still have him and he is still going. Amaretto d'Arco as well was one of the early ones and we have had a lot of successes. It is always great to win for them."
Final Results: $6,000 Spy Coast Farm 1.40m Speed Challenge
1. CYKLON 1083 SHANE SWEETNAM SPY COAST FARM, LLC: 0/65.339
2. CANORA ALEXANDER ZETTERMAN ALEXANDER ZETTERMAN: 0/66.844
3. DON CHIQUI DANIELA CORDERO DANIELA CORDERO: 0/71.094
4. CANTUS D HILLARY SIMPSON QUIET HILL FARM: 0/71.466
5. BROOKLYN BLUESALEXANDRA PAILLOT CAROL SOLLACK: 0/72.150
6. KM WHAT EVER RV DANA SCOTT NOD HILL FARM: 0/73.750
7. SEVENTH FEE MICHAEL DORMAN WYNDMONT: 0/75.804
8. STING VAN DE WITHOEVE LAUREN TISBO TEQUESTRIAN FARMS, LLC: 0/76.178
9. CAMBITO PAIGE JOHNSON SALAMANDER FARM: 0/77.183
10. ALAZAN AMY MILLAR MILLAR BROOKE FARM: 0/78.929
11. ADOCTROSCHUYLER RILEY KATHERINE GALLAGHER: 0/80.574
12. ALRIGHT MICHAEL DORMAN MICHAEL DORMAN: 0/80.941