FITTINGLY on the centenary anniversary of lady riders competing at Dublin Horse Show, Team GB bounced right back to form to win the Aga Khan Nations Cup trophy with a glittering performance despite the weather.

Going into the competition, British chef d’equipe Di Lampard told MC Brendan McArdle that they had come with ‘a strong team to win’ and win it they did, pushing Italy into second and Ireland into third place.

The victory was all the more important for Team GB who needed a welcome turn of fortune. “We knew it had to turn and I had a good feeling all week,” said a thrilled Di.

There’s been a lot of comment over the past few days at the RDS of the gender neutrality of show jumping as one of the few sports that women and men can compete in on an equal basis and that certainly proved true with yesterday’s winning team of two men and two women. Using a mixture of ultra experienced and younger riders, Team GB’s Ben Maher, Scott Brash, Emily Moffitt and Holly Smith pulled out all the stops and their collective joy was absolutely contagious at the RDS yesterday.

Double clears were hard to come by yesterday and young Emily Moffitt (21) absolutely shone on the aptly named Winning Good to deliver the victory for her team while Ireland’s Paul O’Shea went double clear with the brilliant Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu to keep Ireland on the podium.

It was just not to be for Rodrigo Pessoa’s gallant team of Cian O’Connor, Paul O’Shea, Darragh Kenny and Shane Sweetnam. In the heel of the hunt, they absolutely gave it their all and were on the podium before their home crowd.

It’s onwards now to the European Championships for the next big Irish team outing and we wish them all the luck in the world.