HOT on the heels of the news that Irish international event rider Jonty Evans had secured enough public funding to purchase Cooley Rorkes Drift (ISH), came the announcement that he was not competing the Irish-bred at the FEI European Championships, hosted this weekend in Poland.

Some 6,700 members of the public and some significant private investors rowed in behind Evans’s heartfelt appeal to raise £500,000, coming up trumps and securing the horse’s future with Evans and availability to the Irish eventing squad.

Throughout the crowd-funding campaign, Evans frequently stated that time was of the essence in raising the funds, a post on the jontyandart.com website reads: “To add a little time pressure to my situation, I have been selected to go to the European Championships in Poland in a few weeks, but if the ownership issue is not sorted out, I will not be able to go.”

As the crowd-funding campaign was drawing to a close, Evans posted on social media saying: “There are just over 10 days until the horses need to leave for Poland for the European Championships and the pressure is really on to raise the funds in time.”

Supporters duly rallied together and the money was raised.

Evans then issued a statement, released via Horse Sport Ireland, last Saturday, which stated: “The outcome of the campaign has been successful, that was to secure Art’s future and allow us to compete at the biggest competitions on a global scale, but unfortunately, however much Art and I want to go and challenge in Poland, time will not allow. The physical issue of paying for him is complex and will not be completed in time.

“I have spoken at length with Sally Corscadden our High Performance Director and she agrees that our preparation has been hampered due to the extreme efforts we had to go to in securing Art.”

Sally Corscadden added: “It is inspiring to know that Jonty and Art are now secured for future teams and can aim for Tokyo.

“With this in mind, we have agreed that the best course of action is for them not to travel to Poland, but to complete the deal to secure Art and put in place a suitable plan to qualify for the World Equestrian Games in 2018.”