February 1, 2026 
If 2025 had a theme for Shane Sweetnam, he’d tell you it was his “runner up” year.
“We’ve been second a lot, which was my year last year,” laughed the Irish Olympian on Saturday, after winning the four-star Grand Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL, “so it’s nice to have him put me up one spot and get the win.”
“A lot” is putting it mildly.
In 2025, Sweetnam stood second on 15 international podiums—eight at the 1.60m height. Among those were runner-up finishes with James Kann Cruz in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Ocala in February, the Hampton Classic Grand Prix in August, the American Gold Cup in September and the Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva in December.
Despite that spectacularly consistent season—and taking home €1,115,230 in prize money, his second highest grossing in year since 2021 (Jumpr stats)—Grand Prix wins were elusive for the 45-year-old, at any height. He won just one GP title in 2025, a 3* with Coriaan van Klapscheut Z in Wellington in November.
But while Sweetnam was second “a lot” last year, he was second to none on Saturday.
The Irishman captured his first international win of the season, in the first month of the season at WEF, topping a six-horse jump off to win the CSI4* MARS Equestrian Grand Prix with Coriaan van Klapscheut Z.
Here’s the head to head against countryman Bertram Allen:
Coriaan van Klapscheut Z (Comme Il Faut 5 x Lord Z Z) is a rising star on Sweetnam’s string. Previously owned by Abdel Saïd (BEL), the 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding came under Sweetnam’s saddle in the summer of 2024 and proved to be an instant near-winner.
“I thought it would take more time [to get to this level], but I didn’t have many horses when he stepped up to FEI last year,” he said. “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.”
And they do. In 13 starts at 1.55m, they’ve advanced to six jump-offs, finishing on the podium 83% of the time (Jumpr). In other words, Sweetnam is poised to banish any second thoughts.
“With horses, they’ll tell you what the plan is, especially at this level, but he’s comfortable already, and now we can smooth it out.”
