Fitzpatrick shines on home turf

By Emer Bermingham

IRELAND’s pony show jumping riders are amongst the best in Europe and last week they certainly proved just how high calibre they are as they claimed team silver, and individual bronze, at the European Championships at Millstreet.

Speaking afterwards, Chef d’Equipe Tom Slattery said, “I was extremely pleased with the results over the championships. We are fortunate to have very strong riders and ponies. I have been team manager for four years and in those four years only once we were unsuccessful in bringing medals home.”

This year’s team was very young and they all have more time in this division, which is very positive for years to come. They were up against five very strong teams but held their own, coming back in the second round to secure silver. This was a fantastic result considering the high standard of teams battling it out. Susan Fitzpatrick did us proud in the individual class and, in the end, there was very little between the silver and bronze medal,” he continued.

“Judging on the standard of the pony riders competing in Ireland at the moment, the future for Irish show jumping looks very exciting. As well as the team, we also had riders competing in national and in CSI-P and CSI-YP classes. It was a great experience for these children to experience the championships. Likewise these children faced tough competition and they delivered very impressive results. I would like to thank the parents for their help in the run-up to and during the Championships,” concluded Slattery.

The team of Susan Fitzpatrick (Rock Dee Jay), Grace McHugh (Cassandra van het Roelhof), Michael Pender (Doon Laddie) and Sean Monaghan (Attyrory Rebel) got their campaign off to an excellent start on Thursday, finishing on a total of zero faults, after the first individual and team qualification round. Clear rounds were delivered by Fitzpatrick, McHugh and Pender, while Monaghan recorded 12 faults. Best of the Irish in the table A competition, was Pender and Doon Laddie, who finished in 73.10 seconds for second place behind Belgium’s Arnaud Gaublomme (Goliath Van de Groenweg).

Equally on form, and finishing the first round on zero faults, was the French team. Ninon Castex (Quaber Des Monceaux), Nina Mallevaey (Rominet De Bruz) and Victoria Tachet (Rexter d’Or) each delivered clears, while their fourth member, Thomas Scalabre (Sligo de Mormal), recorded four faults.

It was all still to play for as only the smallest of margins separated the teams, with Germany and Britain tied for third place on four faults, ahead of Switzerland who carried eight faults.

The individual standings were equally as close, with 13 riders maintaining clean sheets, three of which were delivered by Irish riders.

Friday’s Nations Cup was hotly contested and, once again, the Irish team had their eye firmly on the ball. First out, Michael Pender and Doon Laddie recorded eight faults, but the combination improved in their second performance with just one fence on the floor. Susan Fitzpatrick with Rock Dee Jay had four faults in the first round, but then went on to deliver an all-important clear. Sean Monaghan and Attyrory Rebel made a fighting comeback from a 12 fault first round to record a clear second time out. Grace McHugh, who had four faults in the first round on Cassandra van her Roelhof, delivered a clear round second time out, which saw the team finish on a total of 16 faults overall.

The French team continued to deliver the results and excellent performances in the Nations Cup claimed the gold medal on a total of just one fault.

In the first round, clears were delivered by Victoria Tachet and Nina Mallevaey and Thomas Scalabre, while Nino Castex recorded a single time fault. In the second round, Mallevaey, Castex and Scalabre repeated their earlier performance, while Tachet recorded eight faults, which provided the discard score.

The pressure was still on the Irish quartet as the British team of Emily Ward, Harry Charles, Charlotte Ash and David Alex looked to be challenging for the Silver medal, however with Alex Gill (Ammanvalley Santi) faulting at the water, they were left to battle it out for Bronze with the German team. And, despite posting three clear rounds, the British had to concede to the faster German team of Justine Tebbel, Philip Topphoff Schulze, Enno Klaphake and Lars Volmer, who also finished on a zero score in the jump-off in a quicker time.

Individual Medals

In the battle for the individual medals, 10 competitors carried four faults or less to set the scene for more exciting jumping. Following the Nations Cup on Friday the Oliver Bost-managed French team lay in a very strong position.

Nina Mallevaey (Rominet De Bruz) was in pole position going into the final Grand Prix on zero faults. The French rider’s luck changed as she recorded nine faults between the final two rounds, which meant that the lead changed to her team mate Ninon Castex (Quabar des Monceaux), who had accumulated two time faults in the Nations Cup. Just a singe time fault in the final round was enough to see Castex claim the individual gold for France.

With Susan Fitzpatrick (Rock Dee Jay), Belgium’s Arnaud Gaublomme (Goliath Van de Groenweg), Germany’s Lars Volmer (Carrick 13) and Britain’s Harry Charles (Aroldo) each tied on four faults from earlier rounds, a jump-off was required to decide the remaining medals.

The nail-biting affair saw Fitzpatrick deliver a clear in 38.36 seconds but, despite the backing from the home crowd, the Kilkenny rider was outpaced by Gaublomme, who shaved three-quarters of a second off her time for silver. Fitzpatrick settled for bronze while Volmer (39.40) took fourth place ahead of Charles (39.74).