THE latest five-star Nations Cup competition was held at Falsterbo, Sweden, last Friday and saw the Irish show jumping team secure yet another a podium place, the 10th of the year, just a week after their amazing win in Aachen, Germany.

Ten teams took part in the Swedish contest, with Ireland taking on the home team Sweden, reigning champions Switzerland, France, Japan, The Netherlands, Germany, the USA, Norway and Italy.

Team manager Michael Blake had selected Darragh Kenny with Eddy Blue (owned by Carol Sollak); Conor Swail with Casturano (owned by Conall Murray); Daniel Coyle with Incredible (owned by Ariel Grange) and Cian O’Connor with Fancy De Kergane (owned by Coolmore Showjumping and Susan Magnier) to take on the challenge.

Kenny was first into the ring for Team Ireland and incurred an unfortunate four faults early on, but second rider Swail jumped a super clear round, as did Coyle on his mount, Incredible’s Nations Cup debut. The pressure was on O’Connor to jump clear and leave Ireland on a zero score after the first round – the anchor rider did so, which put the team into the joint-lead with Germany at the halfway stage.

In round two, Kenny repeated his first-round score of four faults – but the first German rider did the same, so they remained on level pegging. Swail was next in for Ireland and, when Casturano decided he didn’t like the look of the water jump, a sudden stop sent Swail for an unexpected swim, resulting in elimination. Despite being sodden, Swail picked himself up and ran to catch his horse.

Coyle was in next and incurred eight faults and, with no discard score this time, it was again down to O’Connor to jump clear… Once again, the anchorman obliged to secure a double clear, which left Ireland on a score of 12 at the finish. The USA also finished on 12 faults, but Ireland’s better time put them on the podium and put the USA in fourth.

O’Connor was delighted with his horse and said on social media afterwards: “Susan Magnier‘s fantastic nine-year-old Fancy De Kergane has finished faultless in every Nations Cup he has jumped to date!”

Cian O’Connor on Fancy de Kergane who jumped double clear for Ireland in Friday’s Nations Cup and went on to take the runner-up spot in the 1.60m Grand Prix on Sunday \ Picture Bank/ Rolf Stenberg

Germany and Sweden both finished on eight faults and had to jump-off to decide the winner. Sweden’s Emma Emanuelsson on Canbella Blue PS finished on four faults, while Germany’s Sandra Auffarth on board Quirici had three poles down for 12 faults – meaning that Sweden took a home win, much to the delight of the crowd, with Germany in second and Ireland in third.

Horse Sport Ireland High Performance show jumping director Michael Blake said: “I’m relatively pleased with the result – it was all going very well at the halfway point, but obviously Conor’s elimination has put us on the back foot and some little mistakes have cost us in the second round.

“Obviously a podium finish in a Nations Cup is nothing to be sniffed at, and it keeps plenty of momentum going towards Paris. I was also really pleased with Fancy De Kergane’s double clear – he’s only nine and has a very bright future ahead of him at this level.”

Irish one-two

International classes began at Falsterbo last Thursday, July 11th, with the first 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier and it was a super start for the Irish, as Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and Meath-based Cian O’Connor claimed a one-two on board Chic Chic (Comme IL Faut 5 x Contendro) and Eve D’Ouilly respectively.

Out of the 50 starters, there were 14 clear rounds, and the top three were within 0.4 seconds of each other.

O’Connor was first of the pair into the ring, riding the 10-year-old mare, owned in partnership with Nicole Walker. They jumped clear to take the lead in a time of 69.81 seconds. O’Connor’s lead was shortlived, however, when Kenny took his turn with the 14-year-old stallion Chic Chic, which he co-owns with Vlock Show Stables. Kenny stopped the clock in 69.59 seconds. The third place on the podium was filled by Swiss rider Martin Fuchs and Bastille, who finished in 69.99.

“It’s a good positive start to the show,” said a happy Kenny afterwards. “I was delighted with my horse, he jumped well and it was great to start with a win.

“It certainly puts you in a positive frame of mind to begin like that and, with Cian in second too, hopefully it’s a good omen ahead of the Nations Cup tomorrow.

“It’s a busy part of the season for me. I go to Dinard’s five-star show next week, then return to America for two weeks and then it’ll be back to Ireland for the Dublin Horse Show, which is always a season highlight.”

Daniel Coyle on Incredible, who jumped clear in the first round of the Nations Cup last Friday \ Picture Bank/ Rolf Stenberg

O’Connor runner-up in Grand Prix

The 1.50m Derby and the five-star Six-Bar competition due to be held on Saturday were both cancelled due to heavy rainfall at the Swedish venue, but thankfully, Sunday’s 1.60m Grand Prix was able to go ahead, with a start list of 42.

Only two riders managed to jump double clear and they were O’Connor riding Fancy De Kergane and Germany’s Sandra Auffarth on Quirici H. Second last to go, Auffarth took the top spot with a time of 52.56 seconds in the second round, just over a second ahead of O’Connor (53.62), who was last to go, but had to be content with runner-up spot on this occasion with the remarkable nine-year-old. Coyle and Incredible finished eighth in the class with a final score of eight faults in a very fast time of 51.81.

Belgian rider Abdel Saïd incurred no jumping penalties with Figueras De Laume, but struggled with the time allowed in both rounds. A time fault in each round put the Belgian and his mount in third place.

Auffarth is of course better known in eventing circles and the former world champion is part of the Germany eventing Olympic team for Paris next week.

In the ribbons

Friday’s 1.45m Derby qualifier had seen O’Connor and Eve D’Ouilly place sixth of 22 participants, when they jumped clear in a time of 66.63 seconds. French rider Julien Gonin on Estrella de La Batia won the class in a very fast time of 62.90.

In that evening’s 1.45m class, Swail rode Vital Chance de La Roque into fourth place, when he was among 12 clear rounds from the 38 starters.

Swail’s time of 67.56 seconds just missed out on a podium place. The class was won by Sweden’s Petronella Andersson on Olympke Van’T Merelsnest (66.59).