IT was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Irish horses and riders, at the inaugural Longines League Of Nations Final at CSIO Barcelona in Spain.

The highlight for Ireland (and possibly a career highlight for the rider) was the world-class performance of Michael Pender and the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, HHS Calais, who won the €300,000 five-star 1.60m Longines Grand Prix on Friday night. This was no mean feat, as competitors included all three individual Olympic medallists from the Paris Olympic Games!

From a start list of 43, with one non-starter, 12 made it through to the jump-off round – 11 of whom had jumped clear in the first round plus the fastest of the four-faulters, France’s Kevin Staut on Dialou Blue PS. The second round saw seven of these combinations manage to keep all the fences standing, but time was the deciding factor.

25-year-old Kildare rider Pender and HHS Calais (Cavalier Royale (HOLST) x MHS OBOS Cruise (ISH) x OBOS Quality (OLD); bred by Ita Brennan, Co Kilkenny, owned by Bravo Hughes Ltd) had jumped the fastest clear first round and were therefore last to go in the jump-off. They knew what they had to do and gave it their all in the second round, once again clearing all the fences and stopping the clock in a very speedy 50.88 seconds to take the win and the generous top prize of €99,000, in front of the packed stands of the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona.

Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (SWE) on Zuccero HV had been in the lead with what looked to be an unbeatable time of 51.64, but when Pender finished almost a second faster, Bengtsson had to settle for the runner-up spot to take home €60,000. Spain’s Armando Trapote on Tornado VS completed the podium, claiming third place and €45,000 in a time of 51.78 seconds.

Following his win, Pender, who is the ranked fourth in the FEI world rankings for U25 show jumpers, said: “I’m delighted with the win here in Barcelona. My horse jumped amazing and I’m so proud of him and all the team at HHS (Hughes Horse Stud), both here and at home in Ireland.

“I had my plan before the jump-off, but the vertical before the double ended up being a bit the bogey – the joker fence in the class almost – so I decided I would do nine strides to the last fence instead of 10 and take a bit more time to the vertical, which would also make the double a bit easier.”

Pender continued: “The boys (Irish team mates) helped me make that plan and Calais was just jumping incredible. In the jump-off, he was so with me – everything I asked, he was waiting for me to tell him what to do next.

“Calais jumped great in Spruce Meadows last month – he jumped double clear in the Nations Cup there and Ireland finished second, but he’s been knocking on the door of a Grand Prix all year. He’s been brilliant, I couldn’t ask for any more.”

“I’ve had a great few weeks and it’s all thanks to everybody working hard at home and those that have given me this opportunity. Without them, days like these wouldn’t be possible – it’s just not possible to be at the shows every week and still have the horses in such good form and that’s thanks to them, I can’t thank them enough.”

Irish Horse Board Director General Alison Corbally said: “Huge congratulations to Mikey, to winning owner Marion Hughes and all the team at Hughes Horse Stud and to the Brennan family in Kilkenny, who bred HHS Calais (ISH). Once again, Irish breeding has come out on top against what really was a world-class line-up.”

Daniel Coyle and Legacy completed a brilliant double clear for the Irish team at the League Of Nations final in Barcelona / Tomas Holcbecher

League of Nations finale

The Irish team of Denis Lynch, Mikey Pender, Daniel Coyle and Cian O’Connor didn’t fare quite so well in Sunday’s Longines League Of Nations Final, where a huge prize pot of €1.6 million was up for grabs. Ireland finished just outside the podium places in fourth, despite having been in pole position going into the final – meaning they jumped last of the nine teams competing.

Sunday morning saw a change to the previously selected Irish team, as Mark McAuley’s mare, GRS Lady Amaro (ISH), had showed some soreness. After consulting with both the vet and rider, the decision was made to withdraw her from the competition. This meant that Pender and HHS Calais were drafted in.

Denis Lynch and the 11-year-old bay Vistogrand were first to go for Ireland, giving the team the perfect start with a lovely clear round in 74.92 seconds. Pender and HHS Calais (ISH) were the second Irish combination into the arena. They were jumping well until a refusal led to them finishing on 16 faults, with four for jumping added to 12 time-penalties.

Daniel Coyle and Legacy were next and, despite the pressure, they performed at their best to jump clear. A clear round from last to go, Cian O’Connor and Fancy De Kergane, could have put Ireland on a zero score and into a joint lead, but they had two down to finish on eight faults, putting Ireland on a first-round total of eight and in sixth place at the halfway stage. At that point in the competition, The Netherlands and Germany were both on a zero score to sit in joint first; with France in third place on four faults.

Daniel Coyle pictured on the podium in Barcelona, where he and Legacy received awards for Best Athlete and Best Horse during the League Of Nations / Tomas Holcbecher

With just three combinations jumping for each team in round two, every score counts. Blake selected Lynch, Pender and Coyle to jump again.

The second round saw Lynch and Vistogrand incur four faults, to put Ireland on a score of 12. Pender and HHS Calais (ISH) bettered their first-round total to finish with two down and eight faults to put Ireland on 20 and in fifth place at that point. Coyle and Legacy were last to go and completed a superb double clear to keep Ireland on a total of 20 faults at the finish.

As the last riders came into the arena, Germany and The Netherlands were neck and neck on 12 faults. Germany’s Richard Vogel jumped double clear on United Touch S to guarantee his team at least second place. With the pressure on the Dutch, Harry Smolders incurred four faults with Uricas v/d Kattevennen to hand Germany the win.

Germany won the League Of Nations Trophy on 12 faults, ahead of The Netherlands in second on 16, followed by Sweden in third place on the podium, who equalled Ireland’s 20 faults, but were ahead on time.

Ireland had put in some fantastic performances throughout the series, but it wasn’t their day in Barcelona.

“Not to be today, we had some bad luck at critical times and made some unforced errors, which just left us with that little bit too much to do,” said team manger Michael Blake afterwards.

“Credit to the lads, though, they really dug in and never stopped trying to the end and we’ve had an excellent League of Nations season.”

Special thanks were extended to the entire team for their continued support, including the riders’ incredible grooms, veterinary staff, families and everyone else, who does such a wonderful job behind the scenes getting the horses to these top-level competitions.

Coyle and Legacy had an incredible run of form throughout the Longines League of Nations series and this was duly recognised, when they were presented with the Horse of the League prize. This was decided before Legacy jumped yet another double clear round in the final. This double clear meant that Coyle shared the €200,000 Best Athlete prize for completing both rounds of the final without penalties.