RODRIGO Pessoa this evening named his Irish team for Friday’s Falsterbo Nations Cup in Sweden.

The Irish team, sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange and Devenish, has been drawn fifth of eight teams to jump in tomorrow’s (Friday) Division 1 FEI Nations Cup at Falsterbo in Sweden.

The Irish team is:

Shane Sweetnam with Chaqui Z – Owned by Spy Coast Farm LLC & Shane Sweetnam

Cian O’Connor with Callisto – Owned by Ian O’ Grady, Philippe de Balander & Ronnoco Jump Ltd

Mark McAuley with Miebello – Owned by Eva Lundin

Denis Lynch with All Star 5 – Owned by Thomas Straumann & Denis Lynch

Falsterbo will be Ireland’s fourth of six points-scoring rounds as they continue their quest to qualify for the Nations Cup world final in Barcelona (ESP). Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the home team from Sweden will be competing for points in Falsterbo, while Norway and USA will also field teams but will not be eligible for points.

Ireland last won the Swedish Nations Cup in 2009 with a team that included Cameron Hanley (SIEC Livello), Darragh Kerins (Night Train), Capt David O’Brien (Kiltoom) and Denis Lynch (Lantinus). Falsterbo is a town located at the south-western tip of Sweden and first held a horse show in 1920.

Team manager Rodrigo Pessoa said: “We are looking for our first Division 1 Nations Cup win of the season and if it comes tomorrow, it will be very pleasant. The horses all jumped well today and we are ready to give it our best shot.”

Following Falsterbo, there will be just two rounds of the 2017 FEI Nations Cup series remaining – at Hickstead on July 28th, and Ireland’s home Nations Cup at the RDS in Dublin on August 11th where teams will compete for the Aga Khan trophy.

ALLEN VICTORY

Meanwhile, Bertram Allen (21) led an Irish whitewash at Falsterbo's opening day today (Thursday).

Allen lead an Irish one-two-three in Thursday afternoon’s five-star 1.50m speed class. Allen took the winner's prize of just over €8,000 with the nine-year-old gelding Izzy By Picobello, stopping the clock clear in 72.84 seconds. Tipperary’s Thomas Ryan filled runner-up spot with Quite Zero (74.62), while Cork’s Shane Sweetnam also took third place for Ireland with Main Road (74.76).

Allen and Sweetnam also featured in the prizes in the opening 1.45 speed competition. Allen partnered the eight-year-old gelding Christy Jnr to runner-up spot in the 1.45m speed class. They finished a 10th of a second behind Dutch winner Jur Vrieling with Acascia. Cork’s Shane Sweetnam took sixth place with the nine-year-old mare Indra van de Oude Heihoef.

The Falsterbo Nations Cup starts at 1.30pm Irish time on Friday and is available to watch live on FEITV, with live updates during the competition on Team Ireland Equestrian social media.