Shane Sweetnam gets his ducks in a row
Coriaan van Klapscheut Z broke Shane Sweetnam’s sporting duck in November and continues to take like the proverbial bird to water.
“We only started doing FEI this time last year,” Shane said of the 10-year old Belgian Warmblood. “The end of the year he finished off really well winning a three-star here in Wellington and then to come out here and win a four-star is great.”
Shane and Coriaan took the largest monetary prize in week four of the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF], winning the $215,000 CSI4* Grand Prix with a jump off time of 41.4 seconds. Fellow Irishman Bertram Allen came within a hair’s breadth, claiming runner up aboard Qonquest de Rigo by clearing the short course in 41.95 seconds.
“Funny enough, I thought it would take more time [to get to this level],” said Shane, who has partnered with the gelding jointly owned with Voquest LLC, since the end of the summer of 2024. “But I didn’t have many horses when he stepped up to FEI last year. 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.”
The first round over the Anderson Lima-designed course featured a water jump – a new experience for Shane and Coriaan, but one which they took in their stride as they look to higher competitions.
“I say with the horses they’ll tell you what the plan is a little bit especially at this level you know,” said Shane. “He’s comfortable already with four stars but I still think we can get it a little bit smoother. That’s the first time he’s ever jumped water in the ring, which is a great sign so I think he’ll tell us the plan but obviously our schedule is pretty busy with big shows so he’ll get plenty of opportunities.”
In November of 2025, Coriaan broke a dry spell of runner up slots for Shane, giving the 45-year old from County Cork, his first Grand Prix win of the year $120,000 CSI*, to close out the ESP Pre-Charity show at Wellington International. “We were second in Devon and second in Aachen, and we actually had a lot of seconds, which was my year last year,” said Shane after Saturday’s Grand Prix victory. “So maybe this is putting me back up one spot higher, because last week I was second, so I’m delighted to get the win.”
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