THE second leg of the Longines League of Nations is set to take place in Ocala, Florida, on Saturday, March 23rd, and the teams have now been named by each of the top-10 ranked countries taking part. Many of the world’s best show jumping athletes are due to compete, with selection for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games imminent.

With Irish riders really on top of their game at the moment, High Performance Director, Michael Blake had a lot to choose from. He has named his team as Bertram Allen, Daniel Coyle, Cian O’Connor and Darragh Kenny and, following their second place in the first leg of the series and their Nations Cup win in Wellington, Team Ireland will be out to impress again.

The series runs over four legs plus the final, with the first held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) last month, won by Germany, with Ireland as runners-up. On that occasion, the team of Richard Howley on Equine America Consulent De Prelet Z, Michael Pender on HHS Calais, Mark McAuley on GRS Lady Amaro and Denis Lynch on Cordial was the only one to complete the first round on a zero score. A few faults second time out gave them a final score of 12 to finish in second place, just behind the German team, who won with their score of eight faults.

Cian O’Connor and Darragh Kenny were both on the winning team at the Nations Cup in Wellington, while Daniel Coyle and Bertram Allen have both shown very consistent form at top level competition recently. They will all be hoping for further success at Ocala.

The second leg at Ocala will be followed by St Gallen and Rotterdam in June, before the final in Barcelona in October.