IRELAND continues to show the rest of the world their equestrian talents, when alongside the fantastic successes at the FEI Jumping European Championships for Children, Juniors and Young Riders at Riesenbeck in Germany, the senior show jumpers finished on the podium at another five-star Nations Cup over the weekend, taking third place at Falsterbo in Sweden.

Nine teams lined up for the five-star 1.60m Nations Cup class at Falsterbo on Friday afternoon, with Sweden taking a home win with an overall score of just four faults. The USA placed second, equalling Ireland’s final score of eight faults, but in a slightly faster time, which left Ireland on the podium in third place.

The Irish team had been selected as Billy Twomey with Jumping Jack van de Kalevallei; Jason Foley with Chedington Hazy Toulana; Cian O’Connor with Kentucky TN and Trevor Breen with Highland President and they were drawn as second to jump.

Round one saw first in for Ireland, Twomey jumping a super clear round, while Foley picked up eight faults, which ended up as the discard score. One error at the last fence for O’Connor meant he incurred an unlucky four faults, with anchorman Breen jumping a flawless clear round to put Ireland on a score of four faults at the end of the first half and into a four-way shared lead, along with the USA, Switzerland and the Swedish hosts.

In the second round, Twomey completed a super double clear, with Foley and O’Connor each collecting four faults. Breen concluded for the Irish with an impressive double clear round, which put Ireland on a score of four for the round and eight overall for a third-place finish prior to the European Championships in La Coruna.

Horse Sport Ireland High Performance Manager Michael Blake was in Riesenbeck to oversee the successful Young Riders’ team, so Guy Hodgson stepped in as chef d’equipe at Falsterbo, saying afterwards: “The guys were great, yet a little unlucky with some late poles coming down. It was a tough course and combinations were getting caught out at various points in wet conditions, but we were happy with how we had planned things out and I think that showed with the four clear rounds we jumped.

“It has been a very busy period for the team, with results not going our way, but this was a good way to bounce back and it sets us up very nicely with plenty of confidence going into the European Championships in Spain next week.”

Placings

The international classes at Falsterbo commenced on Thursday, July 10th and saw Cian O’Connor place seventh in the five-star 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier on board the 11-year-old mare Canbella Blue PS, jumping clear in 63.18 seconds. It was a home win for Sweden’s Henrik Von Eckermann on Steely Dan, who finished in a very fast 60.45.

In Friday morning’s five-star 1.45m Falsterbo Horse Show Prize class, Trevor Breen and the eight-year-old gelding Konrad Obolensky finished as runners-up, when they jumped clear in 69.94, just over a second behind the winner Geir Gulliksen (NOR) on VDL Groep Quatro (68.93).

Sean Monaghan continued his recent run of good form on Saturday morning, when placing third with Toyger in the five-star 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier, jumping clear in 66.81. There was no catching the class winner, Belgium’s Abdel Said on Zasou Vom Claashof, who stopped the clock in 64.34, ahead of Sienna Charles (GBR) on Stardust in second (66.50).

Falsterbo has recently been added to the Rolex Series and Sunday’s five-star €500,000 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix saw a top 10 finish for Breen and Highland President, when they finished ninth of the 50 starters. Breen was among 13 combinations to jump clear in the first round and make it through to the jump-off, where they picked up an unfortunate four faults. Karl Cook (USA) on Caracole de la Roque secured the win when fastest of seven double clears in the class.