LAST Saturday, nine teams lined up for the four-star $150,000 Nations Cup at Wellington International in Florida, which saw a well-deserved home win for the American team, followed by Ireland in second place and Belgium in third.

Michael Blake had named his team as Galway’s Michael Duffy (Cantano 32), Wexford’s Bertram Allen (Qonquest de Rigo), Meath’s Cian O’Connor (Belvedere) and Derry’s Daniel Coyle (Incredible) and they were hopeful of a win, following Ireland’s success at the venue last year.

Allen and Coyle both rode clear first rounds, with O’Connor finishing on four faults; Duffy had a refusal, as well as time penalties and his score was discarded. This left Ireland on a score of four faults at the halfway stage, which put them in second place behind the USA, who had finished round one on a zero score.

In round two, Allen and O’Connor each picked up four faults, while Duffy’s score was eliminated after two refusals. Coyle completed a fantastic double clear, so Ireland finished the second round with an overall score of 12 faults for the runner-up position.

The all-female team from the USA, namely Natalie Dean, Carly Anthony, Charlotte Jacobs and Laura Kraut, added to their zero score when Dean incurred four faults and Jacobs clocked up a time penalty, to put the team on five faults at the finish to secure the win.

The American team had Irish connections, as Jacobs is trained by Greg Broderick, who was in attendance in Wellington to train her on the night. Jacobs bought the 10-year-old Presley Boy gelding Playboy JT Z from Co Clare’s Rhys Williams in October 2023.

Belgium’s score of 17 faults was good enough for third, with Canada fourth, Mexico fifth and Great Britain sixth.

Afterwards, a happy Michael Blake, Irish High Performance show jumping director, said: “I’m very encouraged by the result and the performance, we had some new combinations there and they jumped well – they’re certainly horses for the future.

“Daniel and Incredible had been in great form coming into this and they were brilliant to jump double clear – they kept us in the hunt, but ultimately, the Americans never let us back into it and congratulations to them.

“Obviously, we always want to win every Nations Cup we compete in, but second place is never a result to take for granted and I’m very happy to be on another podium.

“We’ve got the League of Nations second leg in Ocala now to look forward to, having won there last year and obviously having won the first leg in Abu Dhabi, so we’ll switch our attention now to that and give it our best.”

The five-star LLN is being held in Ocala, Florida on March 22nd.

Placings

The four-star $5,000 Evening Welcome class saw O’Connor on Belvedere place fifth of the 23 starters, with a clear round in 64.8 seconds.

In the day’s $8,000 1.45m Open Jumper class, Daniel Kerins on Diacette was runner-up with one of only two double clear rounds in the class. Kerins’ time of 33.56 was only beaten by Alexa Pessoa (USA) on Leyira, who won in 32.07. Shane Sweetnam on Rural Juror SCF placed sixth after incurring six faults.

The $2,500 1.35m Open Jumper class saw Kevin Gallagher finish seventh with Campinas 4, followed by James Brennan on Q Mosita van Essene in eighth, with Brennan securing another eighth place in the $2,000 1.30m Open Jumper class, this time on board Scendrio. Meanwhile, Senan Hayes was a joint winner of the Five-year-old Young Jumper class on Uintah and placed sixth in the Six-year-old class on Tito.

Thursday started very well for the Irish, with five in the top 10 of the $10,000 Under 25 Welcome class. Best of these was Tim Brennan on Diadema Della Caccia who was runner-up with a clear round in 68.08. Kerins on Malou Blue PS was fourth (69.5); Tom Wachman placed fifth on I’m Here (69.74); Niamh McEvoy on BP Swifty was seventh (70.78) and Francis Derwin on Sherlock 46 was ninth from a start list of 58.

O’Connor was runner-up in the $25,000 Jumper Classic with Gengis Kann De Londe, jumping double clear in a jump-off time of 35.48 – only beaten by Spencer Smith (USA) on Tulara Colmine (34.53). Allen on Kingston placed sixth (37.30), with Max Wachman on Calox in eighth (four faults, 38.60).

Irish riders didn’t feature in the $32,000 WEF Challenge Round 8, but the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding HHS Seattle (by Pacino out of HHS Chantilly Lace (ISH) by Cavalier Royale), bred by Anne Hughes in Co Kilkenny, won the class in the hands of Spencer Smith (USA).

“This is a great horse,” Smith said of his mount. “I’ve had him for two years now. He was bought by Don and Nancy Stewart and they have supported me with the horse and let me keep riding him and competing him.”

Brennan’s big win

It was Kilkenny rider Tim Brennan’s day on Friday, when he won the $32,000 Under 25 Semi-Final Grand Prix on board the 10-year-old mare Diadema Della Caccia, jumping double clear in a jump-off time of 34.76. From the start list of 49, only six jumped clear in round one and only two combinations completed double clear rounds. Tony Stormanns (GER) was the other, riding Donjon D’Asschaut into second place (35.11). Max Wachman on Berlux Z placed seventh after a single time penalty in the first round prevented them from proceeding to the jump-off.

“She’s deadly careful, she’s got the heart of a lion; he will jump anything for you once you ask her and I just have to be on the ball,” said Brennan who is riding with John Roche in Florida and had family ring-side. “I was always thinking about coming out here; it’s a great experience to get more mileage under my belt,” he added.

Christian Coyle on Chicago CM placed ninth in the $6,000 1.40m Open Jumper class, while Kerins and Lisonas Gold were fourth in the day’s Six-year-old Young Jumper class. Simon McCarthy on Movie Star was runner-up in the Seven-year-old class, with Gavin Harley on Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious finishing seventh.

Saturday’s $50,000 1.50m National Grand Prix saw Bertram Allen ride Kingston into second place, with O’Connor on Gengis Kann De Londe in 10th. Meanwhile, Sunday’s four-star $200,000 Grand Prix saw no Irish riders in the top 10, but HHS Seattle (ISH) was ridden into seventh place by Smith (USA).

Cian O’Connor was delighted to receive the Niall Grimes Award for the leading Irish rider during the four-star week at Wellington.