Tokyo 2020 Olympian Shane Sweetnam claimed victory at the prestigious La Baule Derby in France on Saturday.
The Corkman, who will be ninth in the Longines FEI world rankings, was aboard mare Irandole Du Flot and had a blemish free run, clinching the first prize of €15,620 with a time of 137.97 seconds, cutting two and a half seconds off the time set by world number three Steve Guerdat.
"It's a great win," said Sweetnam.
"That’s Irandole’s first Derby. She’s a very good horse, owned by the Gilbertson family, getting placed all the time, so it was great to get to the top of the podium with her.
"I obviously had a good draw. I was last to go and had seen Steve go. It’s still difficult to get a clear round but I knew I was on track and just tried to keep the pace up a little bit towards the end and pipped him.
"It’s lovely to win. It has always been a very special class, with a packed crowd there making it a great atmosphere and hopefully we can keep that up for the Grand Prix tomorrow."
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