THE Dublin Horse Show is one of the only shows that still holds the parade of teams before the Nations Cup. Yesterday’s renewal of that set the scene for a fabulous day of jumping in the sunshine at the RDS arena, where the Mexican team made history winning the Aga Khan trophy for the first time.

Alan Wade, ably assisted by Tom Holden, built an imposing track on the fabulous Dublin footing and, despite a huge downpour just as the parade of champions ended, the sun shone out for the rest of the class and the ground was foot-perfect.

On paper the Italian, Swiss and Irish teams looked the strongest, while the Mexican team were returning to Dublin for the first time since 1981 and were underdogs early in the competition.

However, their team of Eugenio Garza Perez, Federico Fernandez, Patricio Pasquel and Enrique Gonzalez entertained the Irish crowd when produced a fantastic winning performance.

Speaking afterwards, Mexican chef d’equipe Stanny van Paesschen said: “It’s amazing, I never felt so good in my life like today to bring home the Aga Khan. I thank you very much to the crowd here, it’s amazing.”

Trained by the legendary Eddie Macken, Eugenio Garza Perez said: “He (Eddie) said it’s the best in the world and he didn’t disappoint. This place is unbelievable, it is straight out of a dream. I can’t put it into words.”

The 1.60m Longines vertical at fence five, coming a short six strides after the wide 4.10m open water, and the second part of the double at 7b were the boogie fences in the first round. Some 10 of the 32 riders knocked number five and 7b fell seven times. The penultimate fence 11 also caught five riders out on the way home. There were nine clears in round one.

Drawn last of the eight teams, Shane Sweetnam was first to go for Ireland with Sweatoak Farm and Seabrook LLC’s Main Road (Heartbeat x Irco Marco) and got the Irish crowd excited when producing a brilliant clear round.

Mark McAuley was the second line rider and on his second Aga Khan appearance he rode his wife Charlotte’s Utchan de Belheme (Calvaro x Mr Blue) to keep a clean sheet in the first round. The 10-year-old gelding has had a problem getting inside the time allowed in the past but had no trouble yesterday getting inside the 77 seconds set by Wade.

Limerick’s Paul O’Shea was making his Aga Khan Nations Cup debut and just picked up four faults in round one with Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu (Silverstone x Matterhorn) at the dreaded Longines vertical.

Last to go for Ireland, Cameron Hanley returned to the Aga Khan team for the first time since undergoing 17 operations on his knee in 2011 and he guided Quirex (Quirado x Concept) to the final clear of the first round to leave Ireland out ahead on a score of zero.

Hanley had a scary moment at fence nine when the pole rattled it in its cups and he came incredibly close to the time allowed when breaking the beam in 76.96 seconds.

Italy were lying on four faults thanks to clears from Dublin crowd favourite Lorenzo de Luca and Luca Marziani. America were lucky to be on eight faults, thanks to a clear from Laura Kraut, after the elimination of Jamie Barge, whose horse took a disliking to the open water to be eliminated in both rounds.

Mexico’s Patricio Pasquel was over the moon to jump his clear round with Babel and received a huge cheer from the enthusiastic Dublin crowd and they were also on eight, ahead of Britain and Switzerland on 16. The Netherlands had a tough first round to finish with 24 faults.

ROUND TWO

Sweetnam returned with four faults in round two when Main Road kicked out the second part of the double at 7b.

There was surprise around the RDS arena when Mark McAuley was eliminated for two disobediences from Utchan de Belheme in the second round. The gelding had an uncharacteristic stop at the triple bar coming away from the in-gate area and then again at fence nine. The pressure was then piled on the remaining two riders.

O’Shea looked to be on the way to a clear second round but a mistake at the first part of the double left him on four faults. Four teams – Ireland, Italy, Mexico and France - were on eight faults as the first of the last line riders entered the ring, making for an incredibly tense finale.

It all went wrong for France but Mexico set the standard when their anchor man, Enrique Gonzalez, delivered a clear to guarantee them a place on the podium, putting it up to the two riders to follow. Lorenzo de Luca faulted at fence 5 to leave Italy on 12 faults.

Hanley was last to go and, agonisingly, the middle part of the combination fell, handing the win and the €64,000 prize fund to Mexico for the first time in the history of the competition. Their total of eight faults all came from the first round.

Ireland, France and Italy shared second place on 12 faults.

Italy’s Luca Marziani was the first double clear of the day with Tokyo du Soleil and had to share the €50,000 bonus with French riders Alexandra Francart and Volnay du Boisdeville, Mexico’s Patricio Pasquel, and America’s Laura Kraut.

There were no Irish Sport Horses competing in the Aga Khan this year.

Ireland have finished second overall in the European Division 1 League on 415 points and have secured their place at the Nations Cup World Final in Barcelona. Belgium topped the league table with 420 points.

Germany and Italy have failed to qualify for Barcelona, while Spain are relegated to division two but will compete at Barcelona as the home nation.