THE fifth edition of the international CSIO3*-W C-E-T Prague Cup was held from June 27th to 30th in the Velká Chuchle arena in the Czech Republic and it turned out to be a great show for Irish show jumpers, particularly Simon McCarthy.

Cork man McCarthy was certainly on form, claiming Sunday’s Gold Tour 3 1.45m speed class win on board 11-year-old mare Narcotique V/H Dingenshof with the fastest clear in 56 seconds.

McCarthy was 10th of the 72 starters into the arena, but he sped round the course to finish with a margin of more than a second and a half ahead of French runner-up Victor Laudet on Damzelle Du Breche in 57.65. Abdullah Mohd Al Marri (UAE) claimed third in 59.93.

On Saturday, McCarthy and the 13-year-old mare Gotcha claimed the top spot in the Diamond Tour 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier, when they proved best of the 67 starters, 14 of whom jumped clear in the first round, including Shane Breen on Scarteen and Cian O’Connor on Fox Chapel.

Just five kept all the fences standing second time round, with McCarthy fastest of those in a speedy 36.92 seconds – more than a second ahead of Italy’s Emanuele Camilli on Chaccrouet, who secured second place in 37.93 seconds.

Nations Cup

Meanwhile, the Irish team also gave a good account of themselves in the Nations Cup last Friday, taking the runner-up spot against the toughest of competition in the run-up to the Olympic Games in Paris.

Organisers had previously announced that the maximum number of 15 teams would compete, with a further four teams on a waiting list.

Michael Blake had named his team as Shane Breen with Cato Boy, Matt Garrigan with Jaguar, David Simpson with Piotr Van De Kruishoeve and Cian O’Connor with Fancy De Kergene and they took the runner-up spot on a team total of four faults at the finish, behind winners, The Netherlands, who were the only team to finish on a zero score.

The first round saw Shane Breen and Cato Boy incur an unfortunate eight faults, with David Simpson Pjotr Van De Kruishoeve finishing on four. Matt Garrigan on Jaguar and Cian O’Connor on Fancy De Kergane both jumped super clear rounds to leave Ireland on a halfway score of four faults.

At that stage, there were three other teams also on four faults, tying for third place. France and The Netherlands both ended the first round on a zero score to share the lead. This meant that Ireland was among the top eight teams to make it through to the second round.

Round two saw some changes in fortune, with Ireland moving up the leaderboard and France moving down. Breen finished round two on four faults and was once again the discard score, as Garrigan, Simpson and O’Connor all jumped clear second time out to give Ireland a final score of four faults - double clears from Garrigan and O’Connor helped Ireland to their place on the podium.

The United Arab Emirates also finished on four faults, but in a slightly slower time than Ireland, to put them in third place. France finished on eight faults relegating them to fourth place overall.

Narrowly beaten

Last Thursday saw Simpson take runner-up spot out of 112 starters in the CSIO3*-W Gold Tour 1.40m class on Billy Piccadilly in a time of 61.07 seconds.

He was narrowly beaten by Greece’s Angelos Touloupis who took the win on Kannandillo in a time of 60.43 and also took third on Del Rey of the Lowlands Z (63.30).

McCarthy placed third in Friday’s CSIO3*-W Gold Tour 2 1.45m Special Two-phase riding Narcotique V/H Dingenshof.

Of the 69 participants, 19 registered double clears, so time was the deciding factor. McCarthy stopped the clock in 31.51 seconds, just over two seconds behind winner Luka Zaloznik on Con Vados (29.41) and just over half a second behind runner-up Touloupis, who was on a roll with Kannandillo (30.94).