FOR Ireland, there were high hopes of an individual medal on the final day of the Paris Olympic Games when Daniel Coyle (Legacy) and Shane Sweetnam (James Kann Cruz (ISH)) both put themselves in a superb position with a late draw.

Coyle and Ariel Grange’s 14-year-old mare were one of three combinations who came into the final round on a clear sheet. They had an excellent start to the course, but it went wrong when the mare lost a shoe and Coyle lost a stirrup; a difficult distance to the triple bar/vertical double at number 12a and b saw both fences fall, and then they also knocked 13 and 14 before retiring.

Coyle was deflated afterwards, commenting: “When I jumped the treble and she lost the shoe and I lost my stirrup, it took my concentration away a little bit. Usually at that point you put the horse back together and take a moment, but without the shoe and without the stirrup, I thought I better keep going here and I took the first distance, which was the wrong thing to do.

“She had the triple bar down and then she knocked the one after obviously and I just thought she’s given a lot this week, I don’t need any more from her.”

Coyle has a great love for his mare who he had no words to describe all week as she jumped clear after clear. “I’m very proud of the way she went this week. Her owner Ariel will be delighted. I’ll go away with it with a good experience, and I look forward to the next one.”

Coyle’s almost 90-year-old granny was in the stand in Versailles watching her grandson. “There’s a lot of my family here. I’d love to be in the fight for medals but I am happy with the week.”

Asked about the influence his trainer, Jeroen Dubbeldam, has had on his career, he said: “I could talk about him for hours. He’s taught me how to train a horse and how to train myself but he also lets me be myself. If I could win a portion of what he has won I would be happy.”

Proud

Shane Sweetnam was the penultimate rider into the ring after a super-fast clear in the individual final with the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz (Kannan x Crusing), bred by Patrick Connolly in Co Galway. The pair were caught out by the tricky fence at 5b and also knocked the first two parts of the triple combination at fence 10.

“I think today, he’s tried his best and he’s obviously brilliant horse, the tank was a little bit empty. Obviously, he has done four big rounds in six days so we’re probably in unknown territory, they learn from that to work through that. I think he got the second wind coming home and he finished the course well which was great to see,” Sweetnam commented.

“I’m very proud of him and all our team in general have put a lot into being here. He’s done us proud and hopefully we’ll be back again in Los Angeles. The whole experience has been very positive and something I will remember forever.”

Cian O’Connor just missed out on a place in the final when having a fence down in Monday’s qualifier with his own and the Stoute family’s Maurice.

“The horse jumped really good, he jumped class, it’s one of the best rounds he jumped all year and he just touched the plank, that’s the way it goes,” O’Connor commented afterwards, adding: “These horses aren’t machines. They’ve been jumping all over the world and they give us their all.

“The horse has a pole down, and people get excited and say he wasn’t able for it, that’s a load of nonsense.

“The horse jumped really well, he earned his place to be here, he jumped class again today and I’m absolutely over the moon with the horse.”