A machine of a team” is how Irish Chef d’Equipe, Michael Blake, describes the collective effort of the Senior show jumping horse-and-rider combinations that did Ireland proud in 2023, highlighted by the historic five-star Nations Cup victory in Rome in May and the silver medals collected at the European Championships in Milan in September.
Finishing the year as the number-one-ranked country in the world, and with five riders in the top 20 and 10 in the top 100 in the individual world rankings, it’s now all guns blazing ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which are only just over six months away.
The statistics show that Ireland recorded the most clear rounds - a total of 60 - during the entire Nations Cup season and, with 13 podium finishes achieved by 34 different athletes including four wins, seven runner-up placings and two third placings, it’s not difficult to understand why Blake is the envy of the international team management community.
Of course, that comes with a great weight of expectation heading into an Olympic year.
SILVER! Michael Duffy, Trevor Breen, Michael Blake, Shane Sweetnam and Eoin McMahon after winning team silver in Milan \ Tomas Holcbecher
Incredible
Over an incredible three-week period between the end of May and mid-June 2023, three Nations Cups were won by three completely different Irish teams, and it was Mikey Pender (HHS Calais), Jack Ryan (BBS McGregor), Michael G Duffy (Clitschko 17) and Denis Lynch (Vistogrand), who made history in the fabulous Piazza di Siena arena in Rome.
For 97 years, Ireland had been trying to lift this prestigious five-star Nations Cup title that dates all the way back to 1926. And it could hardly have been more exciting when coming down to a jump-off against the host nation when both sides were tied on eight faults after the first two rounds, Pender clinching it in a thrilling showdown against Italy’s Francesca Ciriesi.
Michael G Duffy and Clitschko 17 in the CSIO5* Rolex Nations Cup of Rome \ Helen Cruden
At 47 years of age, Lynch was the senior member of the Irish side, Ryan the youngest at 22, Pender just 23 and Duffy 26. “Myself, Mikey and Jack all grew up jumping ponies together and, since we’ve been doing horses, Denis has been keeping an eye on us and making sure we’re going in the right direction! We had really good team spirit between us, and to come away with this win is brilliant!” Michael G said that day.
“When we got into a jump-off, we knew we had Mikey and it was going to take an amazing round to beat him!” Chef d’Equipe Blake said. “We have Denis and three young riders from the Rolex Young Riders Academy, which is a fantastic initiative… Ireland takes the Academy really seriously, we value the ongoing support it gives to the riders because you can have talent and you can have horses, but you need expertise to put it all together. I’m incredibly proud of them all. It was a game of two halves, and the second half was our half!” he added.
Jack Ryan and BBS McGregor (ISH), pictured jumping a clear round at the Longines FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona \ Helen Cruden
Dissipated
The excitement had hardly dissipated before, just a week later, another Irish side topped the podium at five-star Langley, where Shane Sweetnam (James Kann Cruz), Daniel Coyle (Gisborne VDL), David Blake (Claude) and Conor Swail (Nadal Hero & DB) pinned the hosts into runner-up spot. It was the second Irish victory in a row and the third in the last four years at this Canadian fixture.
Conor Swail and Nadal Hero, part of Team Ireland, won the CSIO5* Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Canada \ FEI/Mackenzie Clarke
Another week on and, with Taylor Vard in the team manager’s role, Harry Allen (Calculatus), Comdt Geoff Curran (Tempo Manor), Jason Foley (Oscar vh Hulstenhof) and Thomas Ryan (Di Cantero van ter Hulst Z) won the three-star Nations Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia. And then Ireland returned to Canada in September to break a 22-year drought at five-star Spruce Meadows.
Thomas Ryan and Di Cantero van Ter Hulst Z during the CSIO3* EEF Nations Cup of Bratislava \ Tomas Holcbecher
There was plenty of drama, as Conor Swail (Calciet EB Z), Bertram Allen (Pacino Amiro), Daniel Coyle (Legacy) and Denis Lynch (Brooklyn Heights) won through. Despite Swail’s elimination for a fall in the first round, Allen kept a super-cool head to clinch it with his last-to-go second-round clear that stopped the clock with just 0.18 seconds to spare.
For Blake, there was a sense of relief after a series of second-place finishes over the previous few weeks, including at the five-star events in Rotterdam, Hickstead and on home ground in Dublin, where the open water in the first round produced some surprising moments.
Europeans
The silver-medal-winning finish at the Europeans in Milan was no disappointment however. Instead, it was a triumph to finish behind the mighty Swedes, who added their first-ever European team gold to the Olympic and World team titles they currently hold and who proved that, when it comes to staying the distance, they simply have no match right now.
They started the final day trailing Germany and just ahead of the defending champions from Switzerland. But on an afternoon full of surprises, the Irish showed their resilience and determination too, opening with another fabulous clear from Michael Duffy and the 14-year-old mare Cinca.
They had to add eight to their scoreline when Trevor Breen and Highland President, Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz and Eoin McMahon and Mila all returned four-fault results, but they reaped the benefit of a great run earlier in the week that had left them stalking the leading pack and ready to pounce if and when their rivals showed any weakness.
Trevor Breen and Highland President at the FEI European Championships in Milan, Italy\ Tomas Holcbecher
It was a superb result, a second European medal for Sweetnam, who was on the gold-medal-winning side in Gothenburg six years ago and the fourth podium placing for Team Ireland in the history of the European Championships, adding to bronze in 1979 and gold in both 2001 and 2017.
The Swedes put their success down to planning and organisation, along with great team spirit, but Ireland’s Blake had to deal with some very last-minute changes to his side.
“The thing we are most proud of is that, whatever changes we have to make, we have in excess of 30 riders competing in five-star Nations Cups this year and I think that’s a phenomenal figure! I’m so proud to be involved with people who love the sport so much and who put their country first, above all else,” he said.
Selection
There had been some conversation prior to the championship about the selection of 27-year-old McMahon and Mila - the horse competed by his boss, Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum, until their career together ended in the Rolex Grand Prix at Aachen, Germany, at the beginning of July. McMahon only lined out with the 11-year-old grey mare in two international events prior to the Europeans at the end of August, hampered by an arm injury, but Blake saw the pair’s potential for the team and was proven right when they finished ninth individually.
Lying third going into the final day, Duffy was unfortunate when Cinca, who had an incredible record of clear rounds throughout the year, had to be withdrawn in the second round. But he still finished 12th, just ahead of Sweetnam in 13th place, while Lynch slotted into 20th.
“It was the end of a long year and we didn’t have everyone available to us, so we went with a relatively inexperienced team and I was so pleased with the way they just got on and did the job, coming out every day and giving it everything they had,” Blake said, with huge gratitude to the horse owners, grooms, vets “and all the people who help us out all the time.
“I’m honoured to be able to work with such talented people. What gives us our strength is that the Nations Cup is everything to the Irish rider!” he said.
With the Olympic Games now just around the corner, and January 15th, 2024, the deadline for horse transfers, there is a lot of activity at the top end of the horse market right now. Team Ireland will be hoping to hold on to their talent, and maybe even add to it.
“When I look at our pool of riders, which includes some of the best in the world, my job is to have them as well mounted as possible for the mammoth job that is Paris.
“In my opinion, James Kann Cruz is the best horse in the world, and we have a duty to make sure he gets there in the best possible shape.
“We need to put together the right preparation programme, so we have fresh horses and riders who can give their very best next summer,” Blake says.
If 2023 is anything to go by, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2024...
Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (ISH) at the FEI European Championships in Milan, Italy \ Tomas Holcbecher
******Excellent Irish results worldwide
DANIEL Coyle’s superb Grand Prix victory with Legacy at the London International Horse Show last Monday was the perfect end to another great year for Irish show jumping riders.
After having to settle for third place in the hotly-contested World Cup qualifier the day before, revenge was very sweet indeed when the Derryman pinned reigning Olympic champion, Britain’s Ben Maher, into runner-up spot with an electrifying jump-off performance from the brilliant 13-year-old mare, so Amhrán na bhFiann was the final national anthem to ring out across the ExCeL Arena.
A week earlier, Mark McAuley and the 10-year-old chesnut mare GRS Lady Amaro, bred by Denis Hickey in Wexford, finished second in the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva, where Seamus Hughes-Kennedy and the 11-year-old mare Cuffesgrange Cavadora, bred by Eamonn Sheehan in Kilkenny, were victorious in the U25s.
It has been a watershed year for 21-year-old Hughes-Kennedy, who bagged double-gold at the Young Riders European Championships this summer, partnering the ISH gelding ESI Rocky, bred by Ennisnag Stud, and who looks set for a great future in the sport.
Flying start
The year got off to a flying start, with a double of three-star Grand Prix wins for Darragh Kenny (Volnay Du Boisdeville) and Conor Swail (Theo 160) in the USA in January, and another for the in-form duo of Mikey Pender and the Irish-bred HHS Calais in Portugal a few weeks later. February began with a win for Jason Foley and Lyonel D in Belgium, while in Wellington, Florida, Swail posted a four-star success with Count Me In and then Bertram Allen and Emmylou won a three-star Grand Prix.
March got underway with a four-star Grand Prix win for Daniel Coyle and Ivory TCS in Florida, while Pender and Calais had a four-star victory at Vejar de la Frontera a week later. Then Swail came out on top with Vital Chance de la Roque in California, Simon McCarthy and Gotcha picked up a four-star win in Florida and, in Spain, Richard Howley topped the four-star line-up with Mansini. By the end of March, the wins were coming thick and fast, Pender and Calais on form once again in Spain and Darragh Kenny and Vancouver Dreams coming out on top again in Florida.
In June, there were three-star Grand Prix wins for Billy Twomey and Chat Botte ED in Bolesworth, England, and Shane Sweetnam and Alona AO in Lexington, USA, while David Simpson and Pjotr Van De Kruishoeve won the Hickstead Derby. By July, Bertram Allen and and the ISH Pacino Amiro were on fire, winning the five-star Global Champions Grand Prix at La Coruna in Spain and then it was on to our own big event of the year in Dublin in August, where home runners featured prominently and the biggest crowd-pleasers were Puissance winners Comdt Geoff Curran and Bishops Quarter, who set the arena alight with a stunning performance.
This pair also won the Puissance at Royal Windsor Horse Show in May and at the Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham in October.
Commandant Geoff Curran, pictured riding Tempo Manor (ISH) in the Nations Cup at CSIO3* Bratislava \ Tomas Holcbecher
Sensational
Denis Lynch and Brooklyn Heights topped the five-star Grand Prix at Valkenswaard and, a few weeks later, Richard Howley posted a sensational double when winning the first two legs of the five-star Longines World Cup Western European League in Oslo and Helsinki with Consulent de Prelet Z.
Then across the pond in Lexington, Kentucky, in November, Shane Sweetnam scored his very first World Cup win with James Kann Cruz before Conor Swail and Count Me In stole the show in Las Vegas, both now featuring close to the top of the North American League standings as the qualifying series continues.
November concluded with Eoin McMahon and Mila competing for the Riesenbeck International team that clinched the €6.5 million Global Champions League Super Cup at the Play-Offs in Prague.
Lying 10th in the current world rider rankings, Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz competed at the IJRC Top 10 Final in Geneva in December, finishing sixth in the class won by reigning individual European champion Steve Guerdat.
The latest rankings show Daniel Coyle in 14th, Conor Swail 15th, Darragh Kenny 17th, Bertram Allen 20th, Denis Lynch 48th, Jordan Coyle 65th, Richard Howley 69th, Shane Breen 74th and Michael Duffy in 88th place.
Just outside the top 100 are Cian O’Connor in 101st place and Trevor Breen 103rd.
Irish horses and riders are a real force to be reckoned with going into 2024.
Irish horses and riders sparkle at WBF Finals
With wins in every category, and a sensational clean sweep of the medals in the five-year-old division, Irish horses and riders stole the limelight at the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championships 2023 in Lanaken.
Mikey Pender scooped the five-year-old title with HHS Ocala (ISH), ahead of rising star 19-year-old Niamh McEvoy partnering the stallion Boleybawn Alvaro (ISH) in silver medal spot and Ger O’Neill, who claimed gold in this class in 2022, in bronze, partnering the winner of the 2023 Irish Breeder’s Classic, Ballyshan B F Super Hero (ISH).
In the six-year-old final, Leah Stack piloted the mare Laurina (ISH), bred by the late Dr Noel Cawley, to the silver medal position and in the seven-year-old final Harry Allen took gold with the Italian-bred mare Kumina Della Caccia.
Mikey Pender and HHS Calais jumped treble clear in the CSIO5* Rolex Nations Cup of Rome \ Helen Cruden