WHAT a year and what a result! Turning months of commitment, hard work and no small amount of talent into achievement, Ireland’s event squad ended a senior team medal drought of 23 years. Sally Corscadden’s squad had set out to the World Equestrian Games with the homework done, and returned triumphant with a team silver in the bag as well as the coveted Olympic qualification. Adding to the celebrations, there were some outstanding individual results with Padraig McCarthy mounting the podium to take silver and Sarah Ennis just missing out in fifth.

It was an outstanding performance from all four riders, and although long overdue, it was not totally surprising. Brilliantly managed by Corscadden and her dedicated team, the squad of Sarah Ennis, Cathal Daniels, Padraig McCarthy, Sam Watson and with Patricia Ryan as the reserve, had been meticulous in terms of preparation, and this time, fortune also went their way.

“Our goal going out to Tryon was to try and secure Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2020,” said a jubilant Corscadden at the time. “So to come home with team and individual silver medals we are all just so thrilled. It’s really a dream come through. Each of our riders rode brilliantly throughout, I cannot say enough about them - their team spirit and of course we had excellent back up from Ian (Fearon), from our veterinary and farrier team, from Team Ireland Equestrian and Horse Sport Ireland.”

The season’s highs were many. Sam Watson notably completed his campaign with a world 10th place ranking, while the Irish pony team matched the seniors with team and individual silver.

On the world breeding front, the ISH stud book disappointingly slipped to second spot in the WBFSH world rankings, but retained the young horse equivalent at Le Lion d’Angers in October.

In England, Irish-bred horses more than held their own, completely dominating the top 10 at the four-star in Burghley, and filling four of the leading rankings in the competitive British Evening annual rankings.

OVERSEAS ROUND-UP SPRING INTERNATIONALS

As usual, the four-star series kicked off with the Rolex in America, where taking pole position, Oliver Townend fired warning shots for the season ahead. Teaming up with the Irish-bred Cooley Master Class, the British rider was faultless in a thrilling final phase, ultimately reversing places with title holders Germany’s Michael Jung and Fischerrocana FST.

Ireland’s sole representative, Tim Bourke, enjoyed a great spin, to complete in 19th with Luckaun Quality.

The following week, seven Irish combinations took on the challenge of Eric Winter’s revamped course at Badminton. In his second year at the helm, Winter bravely produced a track which cleverly ironed out the uncomfortable problems of 2017, but importantly lost none of the impact or the influence.

It proved to be a mixed outing for Sally Corscadden’s squad, who experienced the highs and the lows in equal measure. Padraig McCarthy and Mr Chunky showed their undoubted class to finish impressively in ninth spot, leaving Joseph Murphy aboard the evergreen Sportsfield Othello to fill a most creditable 13th place. Ciaran Glynn enjoyed another storming run with the mare November Night (25th) and while things unravelled for Alan Nolan in the show jumping, the British-based amateur was thrilled to complete with Bronze Flight. For the remainder, things did not go to plan. Having delivered an outstanding dressage test, Jonty Evans frustratingly parted company with Cooley Rorkes Drift and both Clare Abbott and James O’Haire took falls from Euro Prince, and China Doll.

At the business end of the proceedings, Jonelle Price opened her seasonal account when landing an emphatic victory with Classic Moet. The Kiwi pair were breathtaking across the country, and clear on the final day eventually led Oliver Townend and the Irish-bred Cooley SRS by a full five marks.

Further stamping her authority, Price travelled to Germany where she picked up yet another four-star title at Luhmulhen. Here, and by a much narrower margin, she teamed up with Faerie Dianimo, to better Laura Collet and Mr Bass. Irish hopes were focused on Sam Watson (Horseware Ardagh Highlight) and Cathal Daniels (Rioghan Rua) who, looking comfortable at the level completed in eighth and ninth places respectively. Patricia Ryan and Dunrath Eclipse also had a good top 20 spin, while Michael Ryan (Dunlough Striker) and Sam Watson (Imperial Sky) both completed.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

From the start of the year, hopes and plans were firmly fixed on the World championships in Tryon and the impending announcement of Sally Corscadden’s squad. This year there was a better depth in numbers, and although Jonty Evans had dropped out of the equation, Corscadden’s nominated team of Sam Watson, Padraig McCarthy, Cathal Daniels, Sarah Ennis and Aoife Clark was a strong one.

All had clocked up solid form, so it was a blow when Clark was ruled out following a last-minute fall at Millstreet. Unfortunately, the American-based reserve Tim Bourke was also unable to fulfil his role, so answering a late call up, the experienced partnership of Patricia Ryan and Dunrath Eclipse travelled as the fifth member.

Embarking on their challenge in what was to be a weather-beset event, the counting quartet opened their campaign to fill a competitive seventh place of the 16 teams after dressage. A brilliant individual test by Sarah Ennis, saw her head into the country in sixth place, while McCarthy also impressed in 10th.

The cross-country however, would prove to be a testing challenge. In a clever feat of cross-country designing, Mark Phillips got the balance of severity spot-on. It was influential and exciting but most importantly allowed the best of the lesser nations to complete.

The Irish squad were blisteringly efficient. Fast accurate rounds within the time, promoted the team into silver medal position overnight behind Great Britain, with Ennis and McCarthy sitting comfortably in individual third and seventh places Taking place two days after the cross-country, the tricky show jumping phase was to juggle the placings further.

Foot-perfect rounds from Watson and McCarthy put the pressure on those above, and while Ennis had been fortunate to survive a nerve-wracking ‘hold’ at the trot up, her luck ran out when she tipped an expensive rail at the second element of the first combination.

It was nail-biting stuff, which ultimately resulted in team victory for Great Britain, a long-awaited silver medal for Ireland, and bronze for France.

Individually, an error at the final fence agonisingly saw leader Ingrid Klimke slip into bronze position, but it opened the door for British rider Ros Canter to land the gold and McCarthy to fill silver.