New horse for Hanley

TALENTED young Irish show jumper Cormac Hanley has been given the opportunity to ride a new mount, Charlie, previously campaigned by top show jumping rider Katherina Offel (UKR) up to five-star international level.

Hanley, based in America with North Run Farm, owned by renowned American coach Missy Clark and her Irish husband John Brennan, has now taken over the ride on the horse after the couple purchased the 12-year-old gelding.

Allen’s Olympic bid

FIFTEEN individual riders will qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio with Ireland’s Bertram Allen and Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet among the riders topping their respective groups.

There are 15 teams already qualified for the Games - Brazil (hosts), The Netherlands, France, America, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain, Spain, Canada, Argentina, Qatar, Ukraine, Japan and Australia.

Individual riders from non-qualified nations have to battle it out on the FEI Olympic jumping rankings to make it to Rio, limited to the best 15 results per rider/horse combination in specific events from January 1st 2015 to March 6th 2016 inclusive.

The rankings will be finalised on March 6th.

Wexford’s Bertram Allen is on top of Group A (North Western Europe) on Romanov and also lies in second with Molly Malone while Co Down’s Conor Swail is in third with Viva Colombia.

Sterrehof’s Voltaire sold

DUTCH international rider March Houtzager’s team horse, Sterrehof’s Voltaire, has been sold to America to be ridden by Eve Jobs, daughter of the late Steve, one of the founders of Apple.

The 13-year-old gelding was on the 2012 winning Nations Cup team in St Gallen.

Judgment registered

A LEGAL judgment has been registered against Ballinasloe Show Ltd, The Showgrounds, Ballinasloe, Co Galway in the amount of €29,792.00.

The judgment was registered on December 3rd 2015 and the plantiff is Galway Groundworks Ltd, Galway, according to SoloCheck.ie.

Jessica Kürten

gains new fans

as a pundit

ANTRIM international show jumper Jessica Kürten gained a legion of new fans after she single-handedly tackled the commentary for the World Cup qualifier in Mechelen, Belgium, last Wednesday.

The former world number two rider took to the commentary box for FEI.TV, the subscription web-based channel and earned plaudits for her knowledgeable insights.

Germany’s Christian Ahlmann produced his third win of the season in the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping 2015/2016 Western European League qualifier at Mechelen riding Taloubet Z (see A44-45).

By all accounts, Kürten, who is now concentrating on coaching, provided a super commentary that showed her experience as a rider and gave a wealth of breeding and training snippets to those listening.

Hunt canter cancelled

MANY events have been cancelled due to the weather, among them the Wexford Hunt Club who have had to cancel their upcoming hunt canter.