THE senior Irish show jumping team continue to keep Irish fans’ hopes high ahead of the looming Aga Khan at the Dublin Horse Show and the World Equestrian Games in September with another runner-up finish at the electric Aachen arena on Thursday evening.

Chef d’equipe Rodrigo Pessoa is due to announce his WEG team in the coming days and will not have an easy decision after two brilliant second place finishes within four days at the highest level (see Falsterbo report on A50).

Thursday night’s team included two of the 2017 European Champions combinations – Shane Sweetnam (Chaqui Z) and Cian O’Connor (Good Luck) – and they were joined by Darragh Kenny with Babalou, on her first team appearance for Ireland, and Cameron Hanley with Quirex.

Ireland lay in fifth of the eight teams after round one, in which Frank Rothenberger’s course proved surprisingly straightforward with little incident. Some 15 combinations of the 32 jumped clear in the first round.

Sweetnam was first for Ireland and picked up a single time penalty in an otherwise perfect round, followed by 12 faults from Kenny – the first fence falling, plus a foot in the water and a part of the combination.

Hanley was next for Ireland and in such a high pressure arena with chanting German fans, he jumped a world-class clear round with the nine-year-old gelding Quirex, the least experienced of the four horses.

O’Connor was last to go for Ireland with his individual bronze medal-winning mount Good Luck, who was making his first team appearance since Gothenburg last September, and finished with four faults in round one when a fraction too close to the first part of the combination.

Five faults left Ireland in fifth, while the Dutch and Swiss were out in front on a zero score, followed closely by Belgium on one time fault and Germany with four faults.

Like any thrilling Nations Cup, the second round saw a big shake up. Sweetnam returned with another time fault, before Kenny redeemed himself with a perfect clear round. Hanley dropped two for eight faults, now under the lights in the Aachen arena, and when O’Connor produced a clear round, Ireland’s team total of six faults saw them in third place with the last few riders to go.

Germany held on to their four faults to secure the victory for the third successive year, but last to go Dutch rider Frank Schuttert needed to jump a clear round to secure second place for his team. Luck wasn’t on his side and four faults meant Ireland moved into the runner-up position ahead of The Netherlands.

REYNOLDS BACK

In the dressage arena, Kildare’s Judy Reynolds made a long awaited comeback after a year’s absence with her Rio Olympic mount Vancouver K. An injury to the 16-year-old gelding kept him out of last Septemeber’s European Championships, a huge disappointment followed a run of exceptional results for them at the top level.

In their first competitive outing since July 23rd 2017, the pair scored 67.68% in Thursday’s Grand Prix, which was won by America’s Laura Graves, and will compete in today’s (Saturday) Grand Prix Special.