TEAM France delivered a dominant performance at the FEI Eventing European Championships for Ponies at Le Mans last weekend, securing both team and individual gold in front of a jubilant home crowd.

Team Ireland also put on a powerful display and sat in fourth after dressage on a team total on 90.2 penalties, less than nine penalties behind dressage leaders Germany and less than four penalties behind eventual winners France, who were third after the first phase.

Sophie Swain and Here Comes Trouble’s fantastic 27.8 from day one saw them in sixth place individually heading into cross-country. Anna Radford and Essenar Double Dutch, competing as individuals, posted a personal best (29.5) at the level to leave them just outside the top 10 after the first phase.

Next best was Tadgh O’Haire with Ballinagore Hero, owned by Ciara O’Haire who scored 30.3, while Kitty Cullen and Coppenagh Spring Sparrow (ISH), owned by Jane Hancock, sat on 32.1 after dressage and Hugh Kelly with Fairyhouse In A Pickle (ISH), owned by Bronagh Kennedy, were close behind on 32.2. Ireland’s other individual rider Suzie Cosgrove, riding Kilcoltrim Swift, scored 32.9.

However, the leaderboard was completely reshaped during Saturday’s influential cross-country phase. The course, designed by the legendary Pierre Michelet (FRA), with support from Alain Ponceau (FRA), lived up to expectations. Known for building some of the sport’s toughest tracks - including those at the Rio Olympics, FEI World Championships 2014 and Pau CCI5* - Michelet delivered a demanding test at Le Mans with only 15 going clear and 11 making the time.

Combinations at fences 16 and 18 caused significant problems, disrupting the medal hopes for several nations, including Ireland, with O’Haire eliminated and Swain retiring on course. Team riders Kelly and Cullen however were superb across the country, each of them coming home clear and inside the time.

It was in this phase where France produced a masterclass in consistency. All four team riders completed clear rounds inside the time, leaving them with a team score of 86.7 heading into the final day. In contrast, Britain suffered an elimination and a refusal, pushing their score to 117.4. Germany, meanwhile, struggled further, with only one athlete delivering a clear round.

Comfortable lead

By Sunday morning, France had a comfortable 29.1 penalty lead, and their ponies passed the final horse inspection without incident. With the title within reach, three of their four athletes delivered double clear rounds, finishing on their dressage scores. Their final team score of 88.7 penalties was well ahead of Britain, who took silver with 117.8 penalties, and Germany, who claimed bronze with 183.4.

Ireland’s Kelly and Cullen both jumped on Sunday, adding eight penalties apiece. This left Ireland in sixth place overall on 1090.3, 1,000 penalties having come from the retirement on day two.

Gilles Vericel, chef d’equipe of the French team, praised his athletes’ resilience and preparation: “It’s a good outcome, even though we felt a bit of pressure since last year, we took the top four spots. What I always say is, it’s not about winning once, it’s about continuing to win. That’s much harder, to do it again. But we weren’t that far off - we got off to a strong start in the dressage and put in some good tests.

“As for the cross-country, it was visibly a tough course, set up by Pierre Michelet and especially by Alain Ponceau - it really wasn’t that easy. We had seasoned riders, preparations were ideal, and we were quite confident. Still, you never know what can happen: once they leave the starting box, you can’t do anything more, but they rode to instructions. After the second French rider finished with a clear round, we instructed the team to play it safe, which is why we asked her to take the option at the penultimate obstacle to secure things, but also to go a little faster, which she did, it all went well.”

Individuals

In the individual competition, it was France’s Ella Rinaldi and Boston du Verdon, who claimed gold after three faultless phases on 25.5. Germany’s Milla Staade, aboard Charleen San, secured silver on 25.8, while Annabel Ridgeway of Britain completed the podium with 28.0 on Akim de l’Arquerie.

Rinaldi, who was second after dressage, moved into the lead with a fast, clear cross-country round and held her nerve with a perfect jumping performance. Riding her family’s 14-year-old stallion, who is heading for retirement, she completed on a score of 25.5 penalties.

“My pony, Boston du Verdon, is truly a member of our family - really, he’s incredible,” Rinaldi said. “My whole family helped train him: my mother, my sister. Boston is like the boy of the family; he’s the love of our life. Now, he’s going to focus mainly on breeding, though we’ll still participate in a few small shows, just for his enjoyment.”

It was bitter-sweet for second-placed Staade, who led the dressage phase on her own and her parents’ nine-year-old mare ‘Charleen San’, with a score of 24.6. They picked up just 1.2 penalties on the cross-country phase which, despite show jumping clear, relegated them to second place and the silver.

Kitty Cullen and Coppenagh Spring Sparrow (ISH) finished best of the Irish individually in 10th place on a total score of 40.1, while Hugh Kelly with Fairyhouse In A Pickle (Gwennic De Goariva) took 11th on 40.2. Ireland’s other individual riders, Anna Radford and Essenar Double Dutch and Suzie Cosgrove riding Kilcoltrim Swift, finished 27th and 29th respectively.

Team manager Sue Shortt said while the riders came away from Le Mans somewhat disappointed, it was a great learning experience.

“For four 15-year-olds and two 16-year olds, it was a very good effort. I’m proud of them, they handled it very well and they were there to support and rally for each other,” she said

“We were a bit unlucky, there was a team medal there for the taking, but it didn’t go our way. Sue Smallman had them in a great position after dressage. The cross-country was a strong, technical track, a proper championship track, and unfortunately we just don’t have enough courses of that level to train on back home. It would also have been nice to get the team training started earlier in the year. Hopefully now we can regroup and put a plan in place over the winter to come back even stronger next year.”