MICHAEL Duffy achieved the best result at the three-star Longines EEF Nations Cup Show in Kronenberg over the weekend, when he and the 13-year-old stallion RMF Clinton Son won Friday’s three-star 1.45m speed class from a start list of 69. Duffy rode a fast and accurate round in 58.03 seconds to finish 1.6 seconds ahead of French runner-up Lara Tryba on Flash de Talma, who clocked 59.63.

The Longines EEF Nations Cup competition later in the day didn’t go quite so well for the Irish team of Denis Lynch, Max Wachman, Jessica Burke and David Simpson, who suffered elimination. Michael Blake’s team had made a great start and were sitting in second place at the halfway stage of the competition.

Denis Lynch was first to go for Ireland riding Cordial and jumped a perfect clear in round one. He was followed by fellow Tipperary man Max Wachman on board GRS Lady Amaro (ISH), bred by Denis Hickey and formerly ridden by Mark McAuley, who also jumped clear. Jessica Burke on Good Star du Bary was next in and had a pole down plus a time penalty for five faults, which was the discard score for the round. Last in for Ireland, David Simpson on Ovidius vd Donkhoeve had a pole down, which left Ireland on a score of four at the end of round one, putting them in second place behind The Netherlands, who were on a zero score at that stage.

Unfortunately, Lynch withdrew from round two, leaving every score to count for Ireland. Wachman had a pole down for four faults, while Burke rode a clear jumping round and incurred just one time penalty. With only three riders, an elimination for Simpson led to elimination of the team.

The Netherlands retained their top spot to take the overall win on a final total of eight faults, followed by Belgium in second on a score of 12, with Great Britain completing the podium on 16.

Placings

Peelbergen Equestrian Centre in Kronenberg in The Netherlands hosted a Longines EEF Nations Cup Show over the weekend, with competitions running from Thursday through to Sunday.

Thursday’s three-star 1.40m two-phase class saw Eoin McMahon place seventh with Good Gracious, when they jumped double clear in a second phase time of 29.49 seconds. The win went to Brazil’s Joao Victor Castro Aguiar Gomes De Lima riding Babacool, who were just over three seconds faster in 26.29.

Duffy got off the mark in the three-star 1.45m Grand Prix qualifier, when placing joint fourth on Dublin. The pair stopped the clock in 59.92, exactly the same time as Sweden’s Felicia Hultberg on Quabriolet van het Bildeken, who shared fourth place. The class was won by Millie Allen (GBR) on Quick Diamant HR in an unbeatable time of 57.42 – more than two seconds ahead of runner-up Angelica Augustsson Zanotelli on Deesse de Coquerie (59.59).

Friday’s young horse one-star seven-year-old 1.35m / eight-year-old 1.40m class saw Alexander Butler place seventh on Bombastic des Sequoias Z and Denis Lynch ninth on Shogun STS.

Saturday’s five and six-year-old 1.15m/1.25m class saw Ireland’s Shane O’Meara place ninth on board Miss Molly Malone VI, while the day’s three-star 1.45m Grand Prix qualifier saw Simpson ride Pjotr van de Kruishoeve into ninth place with a double clear round.