DERRY’S Daniel Coyle represented Ireland at the 2025 Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Finals at Basel in Switzerland over the weekend, riding Ariel Grange’s 12-year-old grey gelding Incredible. The pair finished in 12th place overall, competing against the very best in international show jumping.

The third and final round of jumping was held on Sunday, which saw the top 25 combinations jumping a further two rounds to determine who would take the coveted title.

The Irish duo jumped a super clear in their first round of Sunday afternoon and, in their second, they kept all the poles standing, but picked up two time-penalties. These penalties, added to the faults incurred in their previous rounds, gave them a finishing score of 15 penalties and put them in 12th place overall.

The new World Cup Champion is Frenchman Julien Epaillard, who partnered Donatello d’Auge to show their skill and consistency across the three classes, finishing on a final score of just four penalties to take the €172,500 winner’s prize. Next best was Ben Maher (GBR) on Point Break, with another Frenchman, Kevin Staut on Visconti du Telman in third.

Class jumping

The five-star FEI World Cup Final show was held from April 1st to 6th and hosted dressage and vaulting, as well as show jumping. Competition commenced on Thursday, April 3rd and Coyle - Ireland’s only representative - did not get off to a great start in the 1.60m speed and handiness class, finishing 27th of the 39 starters with two fences down in a time of 62.99 – a combined score of 68.99.

Epaillard, however, started as he meant to go on, taking the win and the maximum 40 points on board Donatello d’Auge with a clear round in 60.30 seconds, just ahead of Ben Maher on Point Break in second (60.43) and Lillie Keenan (USA) on Kick On in third (60.69).

Friday’s second final competition, a 1.60m jump-off class, saw a start list of 37, with just six keeping all the fences standing in the first round to secure their chance to jump again. Only three combinations could complete double clear rounds to claim the podium places, with the fastest of these being Swiss rider Martin Fuchs on Leone Jei, who stopped the clock in 40.77. Max Kuhner (AUT) on Elektric Blue P was runner-up (42.32), followed by Alessandra Volpi (USA) on Gipsy Love in third (45.78).

Fault-free

Coyle and Incredible were fault-free in round one to be among the six clear rounds, but they encountered some difficulties in round two with a shock run-out at the first fence. In total, they finished with 16 jumping penalties and three for time, but still managed to finish in fifth place and earn €10,500 in the process, also collecting 35 points on the leaderboard – moving them up to 15th in the standings at that point.

Epaillard took sixth place after making it into the jump-off but withdrew, still picking up 34 points without having to jump again, while retaining his position at the top of the leaderboard.

In the third and final competition on Sunday, competitors tackled two rounds of jumping over a challenging 1.60m track. The top 25 combinations went to post, with the best 20 of these proceeding to round two.

A single fence down against the clock in the jump-off was good enough to see Epaillard hold on to claim victory for France and the first on a home-bred horse. “Today I felt him a little tired already in the first round. We had a little rub, but he has a super head and with this he always wants to help me. Then he was maybe more fresh (sic) for the second round,” he commented afterwards.

“My horse is fantastic. It’s a dream for all the staff working with me and my family. We work every day for this. It was a difficult week. Not every week can be like this as it’s too much pressure!”

Saturday’s three-star 1.55m Grand Prix saw Germany’s Marcus Ehning ride the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding DPS Revere (Hermes De Reve (SF) x Celerina, by Cento), bred by Dara O’Malley in Co Galway, to claim the red ribbon with a double clear round in a jump-off time of 37.13. Seven of the 37 starters jumped clear in round one to book their place in the jump-off, with six of them managing to repeat their clear round second time out. Runner-up spot on this occasion went to Bryan Balsiger (SUI) on Castiel (37.43), with Epaillard (FRA) on Easy Up de Grandry very close behind in third (37.48).