Wellington, Fla.—Feb. 18  

Conor Swail stopped in the middle of the main arena at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center’s Stadium and pointed to his blue ribbon, which had fallen off in the middle of his victory gallop, and waited as someone on the event staff picked it up and handed it to him.

That ribbon was the only thing that came remotely close to falling for Swail Thursday afternoon in Wellington, as he and the 9-year-old Belgium Warmblood stallion Dillinger (Contender—Capitala, Capitol I) jumped two effortless clear rounds to top a field of 71 competitors in the sixth round of the $35,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup. Peter Wylde and Paloma finished second, and Laura Kraut and Constable checked in third.

Dillinger, owned by Ariel and Susan Grange, started competing at the CSI 2* and 3* levels last year and jumped his first 4* during the Winter Equestrian Festival’s fourth week of competition, when he finished third in the $35,000 Douglas Elliman 1.45-meter Classic. In his short but promising FEI career, the striking dappled grey has only dropped more than one rail once.

“He just turned 9 years old, so this would be the start of his higher-level career,” Swail said. “He’s a very good horse. We’ve had him since he was 5 years old. He’s been very good basically the whole time we’ve had him.

“He jumped his first couple of two-star and three-star grand prixs at Angelstone (Canada) at the end of last year,” he continued. “In the ranking classes he did, he jumped clear five out of six times. He has been very consistent. He had some very good placings there, but this is probably his first big win. He’s very scopey, very careful. This is what we’ve all been looking for [from him].”

Conor Swail and Dillinger won the $35,000 WEF Challenge Cup VI, producing a clear jump-off round in 39.98 seconds.

With hunters taking center stage in the International Ring for WEF’s annual World Championship Hunter Rider Week, the show jumpers were temporarily transplanted across the street in the smaller sand arena primarily used for dressage competition at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. That made for a challenging Richard Jeffery-designed track with short turns, sharp corners and a lot of fences fit into a smaller space. Rails fell repeatedly, especially at a one-stride triple combination across the center of the ring and throughout the final line of the course, which consisted of a double, four or five strides to a liverpool oxer and an additional five or six strides to a skinny vertical consisting entirely of light white planks. Only 10 combinations advanced to the jump-off, and none made it look easier than Swail and Dillinger.

In the jump-off, those earlier in the order took risks that didn’t pay off. Both Andrew Ramsay and Ronan McGuigan had refusals and Lorenzo de Luca dropped two rails, while Chloe Reid, Nick Novak and Peter Leone also added four-faults to their sharp times. Sayre Happy took a conservative route and jumped cleanly with Ludwig’s Joker B, but she ended up two seconds behind the top three. It was Laura Kraut who set the tone early, producing a faultless effort in 42.29 seconds.

Swail and Dillinger entered the ring a second time and again jumped a fast, accurate round. Their final time of 39.98 seconds held strongly through the final two attempts, including the one by runner-up Wylde, who, last to go, finished more than a second behind in 41.28 seconds.

“[Fence 1 to 2] was just a nice seven [strides] for him,” Swail explained, detailing his jump-off ride. “The rollback was very nice, then again the eight strides up to the liverpool was nice for him. On the landing, he had a little bit of a stumble there, and it just made me turn a little late, but thankfully we got up that inside turn. Then at the last, he was great.”

When Swail returned for his victory gallop, he gave a casual thumbs-up to the crowd, because that’s how the win appeared for the Irish rider and his up-and-coming partner—casual.

“For a big horse, that ring is quite difficult,” Swail said. “[This win] is a testament to how good he reacted. I was delighted with him.”

“I think he’s going to be a championship horse,” Swail said of the 9-year-old Dillinger.

Swail is steadily raising the bar for Dillinger, who got a later start to top-level show jumping due to his late-developing physical prowess. Described as “big and a little awkward” as a young horse, Swail always saw the horse’s talent and now has high hopes for his future.

“I think he’s going to be a championship horse,” he said. “I do think a lot of him. Whenever he’s more comfortable and more ready to jump the bigger jumps, I think he will tell me when he’s ready to do that. In the meantime, he’s getting good experience. I don’t want to ever over-face him, so we’ll keep just going along nicely, and hopefully toward the end of this year, he’ll be doing some very nice things.”

Swail and Dillinger will return to the Stadium Friday evening for the $130,000 CSI 3*** Grand Prix, set to take place at 7:00 p.m. Other highlights of the week include the WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Spectacular under the lights in the International Ring on Saturday and the $50,000 WEF 6 National Grand Prix Sunday afternoon, which will take place on the Stadium’s derby field. Check back at coth.com for full updates and coverage throughout the weekend.

Peter Wylde and Paloma finished second with a final time of 41.283 seconds.

Third-place finishers Laura Kraut and Constable (42.296 seconds)