IRISH young rider Lucinda Roche and the Irish Sport Horse WCE Falco finished sixth overall following the final round at the FEI European Championships for Young Riders (U21) at Samorin in Slovakia last Sunday.

After the first qualifier last Wednesday, Ballina’s Michael G Duffy was the best place of the Irish in ninth place with Roche back in 17th.

Bred by Shane Connolly in Co Galway, WCE Falco and Roche jumped a fantastic clear round in the first round of the individual final to move up to silver medal position.

In the medal deciding round, she was clear until the penultimate fence but the middle part of the combination and then the final fence fell to the floor to leave them on a final score of 15.11 penalties.

Switzerland’s Bryan Balsiger took the gold medal, with Germany’s Justine Tebbel in silver and Britain’s Amy Inglis, girlfriend of Irish international show jumper Michael Duffy, earning bronze. Duffy was competing at the Dublin Horse Show when he heard Inglis had been part of the gold medal-winning team and flew out to Samorin on Saturday morning in time for the individual final.

PERFORMED BRILLIANTLY

Irish young rider, junior and children’s team manager James Kernan said: “Lucinda really performed brilliantly. It was a superb performance to finish sixth at a European Championships. She was unlucky not to win a medal and was looking good until the last two fences.

The young rider team of Roche, Jonathan Smyth (Charlton Clio), Sofie Slattery (Valentine du Bois Pinchet) and Michael G Duffy (Lapuccino) finished in fifth place with 25 faults. The gold medal went to the British team, with Belgium taking silver and Italy the bronze.

In the Junior individual final, British-based Ella Quigley, daughter of show jumper Dave Quigley finished in 11th place overall with F.

PROUD

Kernan added: “Our GAIN sponsored teams did us proud. Our young rider team finished just a fence outside the medal places.

“We were under pressure from the start with our junior team when we were reduced to just three riders due to an injury, but they all rode extremely well – as did our children’s team. These Championships have been a great experience for all our riders and will stand to them in the future.

“I want to say a special thanks to our sponsors, GAIN, TRM, Dubarry, Horseware, Berney Bros, and Charles Owen, who gave us so much support.

“Also I want to thank all the owners for making their horses available for these Championships.”