Caitriona Murphy

CORK rider Brian Morrison has been crowned champion at the Student Riding Nations Cup World Finals in Wellington, Florida after he came out on top of a fiercely competitive final which consisted of both dressage and show jumping competitions.

Morrison won the individual dressage final when he beat British rider Lauren Innes, while his team mate James Brennan won the individual show jumping final against a German opponent. Brennan, from Co Kilkenny, jumped a double clear round while the German rider accumulated multiple faults in the final.

Morrison, Brennan and their team mate Peter O’Donnell from Co Tipperary won the team show jumping event and finished third overall in the team dressage event.

Their combined scores saw Ireland narrowly beaten into second place in the six-nation Gold League final by Britain.

This is the second year in a row for the Student Riding Nations Cup to be won by Ireland, Morrison following in the footsteps of Peter O’Donnell who won the competition in 2014.

“It’s been a very successful trip and it’s been fantastic to see Wellington. We competed at the polo grounds, which is only two minutes from the main show jumping grounds so we were able to meet up with the Irish riders out here,” a delighted Morrison told The Irish Field. “It’s amazing to see the wealth and the barns out here. We will be staying on for a couple of days before we fly home to Ireland.”

All of the riders at the world finals competed on borrowed finals, with show jumping competitors allocated two minutes and just two practice fences to get to know their mounts.

The opening rounds were judged on style by American judge Ken Krome and in the two-rider final each rider jumped his own horse over a 1.25m course against the clock before swapping to his opponent’s horse.

For the dressage phase, each competitor rode a Prix St George test and a freestyle test to music following a five-minute warm-up.