There must be something in the water in Castlemagner! Last week we reported that Will Collins had been nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work on the hit film ‘Wolfwalkers’, and last weekend another Castlemagner native, Shane Sweetnam, beat a world-class field to win the €330,000 Douglas Elliman Real Estate Five-Star Grand Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida. Sweetnam piloted ‘Alejandro’ to the win after a stunning jump-off round against the clock.
Shane, son of Jerry and Marie, has been a keen horse rider since a young age and has enjoyed a lot of success since moving to the United States. In 2017, 2019 and 2020 he was presented with the Niall Grimes Perpetual Trophy as the leading Irish rider during the CSIO Nations Cup week at the Winter Equestrian Festival [WEF] in Wellington, Florida.