IRELAND qualified for the Longines EEF Series at Warsaw at the end of July when winning the second round in Peelbergen, The Netherlands, last Friday.

As briefly mentioned in last week’s paper, the team of Alexander Butler, Eoin Gallagher, Eoin McMahon and David Simpson finished on a score of zero to win ahead of Britain in second and Spain in third place.

“This was our only chance to qualify for Warsaw so I told my lads that they had to win it, and nothing else would be accepted by me!”, said Irish chef d’equipe Michael Blake who added that he had “four special riders and four special horses” in his team.

Butler was first to go for the team with his own and Ger Poels Horses’ 16-year-old mare Athene (Berlin x Numero Uno) and he set the standard for the day with a clear round.

On his senior team debut, Eoin Gallagher produced a clear round with Oakingham Stud’ 11-year-old stallion Faltic HB (Baltic VDL x Concorde), before Eoin McMahon followed suit with Madeleine Winter-Schulze’s 11-year-old mare Chakra 9 (Casall x Quidam de Revel). That left anchorman David Simpson with no pressure aboard Foudre F (Namelus R x San Patrignano Mister) and they opted to retire.

That left Ireland on a zero score with with France, The Netherlands, Spain and Great Britain. However, clears proved more difficult to get second time out. Course designer Louis Konickx and his team set a course that included a single-strided triple combination at fence six, and when it was raised for round two it presented a significantly greater challenge.

Foot-perfect

However, it was no trouble for Ireland and the first three riders once again produced foot-perfect rounds to win on a perfect score of zero.

The French lost touch when the 16 faults collected by their first two riders were followed by the retirement of Pierre Alain Mortier (Just Do It R) who ran into trouble at the triple combination second time out. But it was neck-and-neck between the Dutch, Spanish and British for runner-up spot in the closing stages.

Despite elimination of last-line British contender Chad Fellows, who took a fall when his 12-year-old gelding Eindhoven GH got into a muddle at the first element at fence six, it was Jack Whitaker (Scenletha), Joe Stockdale (Equine America Cacharel), William Whitaker (Galtur) and Fellows who finished closest to the Irish. Their time of 215.52 gave them the edge over Spain who clocked up 218.33 between them.

With the semi-final for the North and West region cancelled, today’s top three teams have all qualified for the series Final in Warsaw, Poland on July 24th.

Strong team

Pathfinder, Alexander Butler, was delighted with his 16-year-old mare who originated from close to Peelbergen. “She has already been to the top of sport with Aniek Poels, so it has been easy for me to get up and jump that level with her and I’m very grateful for that,” said the 33-year-old Irishman who is based at Milestone Farm in The Netherlands.

Talking about the course he said: “The first round was very fair, and putting it up a hole in a few places including the combination made a big difference for second round. We had a very good start and didn’t change our plans with any of our horses or riders.”

British-based Gallagher who was delighted to win on his senior team debut added: “We had a strong team today, all our horses won international Grand Prix classes recently and my guy was on form today. The way he cleared the first few jumps gave me great confidence in the first round. At the end of the first round there were five teams tied, but in the second round the margins were smaller because the lines tested people and mistakes crept in. But luckily it was our day today!”

Asked if being the favourites made it easier for the Irish side, Co Clare’s Eoin McMahon, who rides at Ludger Beerbaum’s stable in Germany, replied: “I didn’t know we were favourites but I thought we had a good chance! David and Alex have a lot of experience but myself and Eoin haven’t done many Nations Cups, so when Alex got us off to a great start then that gave us great confidence.”

David Simpson admitted: “I had a handy day at the office!”, but is looking forward to playing his part in another Nations Cup soon. “Of course that’s down to Michael, but I hope he might keep this winning team together,” he said.

Eoin Gallagher third in Peelbergen Grand Prix

EOIN Gallagher’s excellent weekend at Peelbergen, where he made his Nations Cup debut a winning one, continued on Sunday when he finished third in the Grand Prix.

From a huge startlist of 71, just six combinations managed to finished the first round with nothing to add, while four picked up a single time fault. Against the clock, Gallagher and Faltic HB produced one of just three double clears in 38.35 seconds to earn €8,265. This continues a great run of form for the pair, who won the two-star Grand Prix at Chard in England last month.

Kilkenny young rider Jack Ryan was among the one time faulters from the first round to slot into eighth place with the Irish Sport Horse BBS McGregor (Cardento x Mark Twain). Victory went to Portugal’s Duarte Romao with Cayman Jolly Jumper (0/0 35.77), ahead of Belgium’s Keon Vereecke and Lector vd Bisschop (0/0 36.90).