GERMANY posted a convincing victory in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday with their zero scoreline giving them a two-fence advantage over their nearest rivals from France, Belgium and Brazil who filled the next three placings.

It was a tough day at the office for Michael Blake’s Irish team who finished eighth of the eight teams in the final line-up. There was also disappointment for USA when their finishing score of nine faults saw them slot into fifth place and miss out on the much-sought-after qualifying spot on offer for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games which instead went to Brazil.

Spanish course designer Santiago Varela presented an imposing 14-fence track with multiple forward and holding distances along with a total of 18 jumping efforts that finished with a massive final line of a triple combination to a liverpool vertical standing at 1.63m, located right next to the in-gate.

Good start

Trevor Breen got Ireland off to a great start when he was clear over the fences with his mother-in-law Heather Blake’s home-bred gelding Highland President, but just tipped over the time allowed to pick up a single time fault. It was another superb round from the pair that were part of the Irish team who won silver at the Europeans in Milan earlier in the month.

Jack Ryan came into the team for the final, taking the place of Daniel Coyle, with BBS McGregor, and 11-year-old ISH gelding by Cardento who is owned and bred by his mother Marguerite. They faulted earlier at fence two, catching it behind, and also dragged his back legs over the final fence to finish on eight faults.

When Max Wachman entered the arena with the second Irish-bred on the team, Kilkenny (Cardento x Guidam), owned by his grandmother Sue Magnier and bred by Sinead Brennan, a clear round was needed to steady the ship. However, the young rider who was part of the Irish winning European young rider team during the summer also came home with eight faults, which meant Ireland had to count at least nine faults.

Denis Lynch was in the anchorman role with the 10-year-old stallion Vistogrand, owned by Parco Sport Horses EST. They knocked the second part of the double at fence 11b to finish on four faults, leaving Ireland on a total of 13 in eighth place.

Wobbly start

The Germans didn’t get off to the best start when pathfinder Jana Wargers and the 14-year-old mare Dorette hit both the second element of the rustic double at fence 11 and the middle element of the triple combination one fence from home.

But Christian Kukuk and the 13-year-old gelding Checker 47 were rock solid when next to go for their side, and when Hans-Dieter Dreher and the fabulous grey Elysium also left the course intact despite some tricky moments, then it came down to Richard Vogel to seal it with the always-extravagant United Touch S. And they didn’t disappoint.

The 11-year-old stallion very nearly jumped his rider out of the saddle over the first fence, but Vogel held on to produce a magnificent round to leave his side well ahead of the rest of the opposition at the end of the day.

Olympic qualification

The Olympic qualification came down to the wire. It was wide open after four faults from Pedro Veniss (Nimrod de Muze Z) and 10 from Stephan de Freitas Barcha (Chevaux Primavera Imperio Egipcio), but the new addition to the team, former Portuguese rider Luciana Diniz, pulled it back with a spectacular clear round from Vertigo du Desert.

When Rodrigo Pessoa (Major Tom) returned with just four faults, they could count just eight in total at the end of the day and that would do the trick. Barcelona is a happy hunting ground for Pessoa who, as Irish chef d’equipe, secured Olympic qualification at the same venue back in 2019.

The Americans looked to have the situation under control after just single errors from both McLain Ward (Callas) and Karl Cook (Kalinka van’t Zorgvliet), but the addition of eight from Devin Ryan (Eddie Blue) left them vulnerable. Although she left all the timber intact, it was the single time fault from their anchor partnership of multiple champion Laura Kraut and Dorado 212 that would cost them dearly, dropping them a single penalty point behind the Brazilians and leaving them facing into yet another Olympic qualification battle in four weeks’ time at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

The excitement in the Brazilian camp was palpable, and Diniz was thrilled to have contributed to their success today. “It’s 18 years since I last rode for Brazil and this was my first show after nearly a two years break. To be in the official team of Brazil in the final of the Nations Cup and to have to qualify for the Olympic Games was so much pressure in a way, but I was just so grateful to be here and now we have this amazing result,” Diniz commented.

Sitting on a tiger

Reflecting on his winning round, Richard Vogel said United Touch was like “sitting on a tiger! I was hoping I could do something for the team because until this afternoon I felt like someone who was watching the show but not taking part in it!”, he said with a laugh after not needing to jump in Thursday’s qualifying round.

Talking about nearly getting dislodged from the stallion over the first fence he explained: “Always when he starts, especially at fence number one, he likes to do a spectacular jump and maybe I was a bit rusty because I was only a visitor for the rest of the week! It’s pure energy with him, he’s so strong and has so much scope!” he explained.

There was a €100,000 bonus on offer to riders who completed double-clears over Thursday and Sunday’s track and it was shared between Germany’s Hans Dieter Dreher, Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs and Belgium’s Wilm Vermeir.

Challenge Cup

It was a shock when The Netherlands missed out of Sunday’s final but they made up for it in Saturday’s Challenge Cup final when they had to pull out all the stops to beat Australia.

Carrying four faults apiece, it came down to a duel between the two sides in a second-round jump-off against the clock, and it was Willem Greve who clinched it for The Netherlands with a fast clear from Highway TN. He was joined on the team by Jur Vrieling (Long John Silver N.O.P), Kim Emmen (Inflame Go) and Maikel van der Vleuten (Beauville Z N.O.P).