THERE were great hopes of at least one medal for Ireland following the dressage phase of last week’s FEI world breeding championships for young event horses at Le Lion d’Angers but, disappointingly, these failed to materialise.

Ian Cassells, who made his championships debut last year, was the country’s best-placed rider when finishing fifth in the CCI3*-L for seven-year-olds on Fiona and Gerry Leahy’s Rosconnell Alto on whom was 12th here last October. The combination had been lying joint-third after the flatwork phase and could have secured a silver medal had it not been for time penalties in both jumping phases.

Making her Le Lion debut, Meabh Bolger was in the silver medal position after dressage in the CCI2*-L for six-year-olds on husband Brian Flynn’s MBF Back To Back but her championship came to an early and wet end when they fell at the water (fence six).

Horse Sport Ireland’s acting high performance director Dag Albert, who rode at Le Lion on four occasions between 2004 and 2008, made his debut last week as chef d’equipe to the Irish squad. He was naturally disappointed that they didn’t return home with a medal but commented: “I think otherwise we had some good results, but we had some bad luck as well. I was quite happy as I was late coming into the job and we didn’t have much time together.

“We were unfortunate to lose Sarah (Ennis) because of a family issue and then ended up with just one six-year-old completing when Meabh and Back To Back fell at the water. All the others finished apart from Colin (Halliday) who was very unlucky when his mare (GHS Calexico) lost her front shoes at the cottage and he couldn’t keep her on the course.

“All the others were clear across the country which was a great achievement although many of them were tired after this and it showed in the show jumping on Sunday. While people are aware of the huge crowds on cross-country day, they don’t realise that it’s a very intense atmosphere in the arena as the stands are packed for both dressage and show jumping.”

Revamp

While these championships are due be held in Le Lion again for the next two years, the cross-country course could do with a revamp and certainly this year, the two-star track caused few problems. From the 64 starters last Saturday, nine combinations picked up 20 jumping penalties. There were two retirements and a similar number of eliminations compared to three and five respectively last year from 58 starters and three and 11 out of 42 in 2020 (when the competition was held behind closed doors).

For the first time, HSI had a stand at Le Lion d’Angers last week when the national governing body for equestrian sport was represented by its chief executive officer, Denis Duggan, plus Conor Sheridan and Jennifer Diamond from the breeding and marketing departments.

While many things have changed since Covid, the organisers of these world championships continue to provide live streaming of the event free of charge to viewers.