THE opening leg of the new Longines League of Nations took place at the Al Forsan International Sports Resort in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday. It was a thrilling competition, with a new format, as out of the 11 starting teams, only eight made it through to the second round, where only three riders jumped for each team – meaning there was no discard score!

Michael Blake had selected Sligo’s Richard Howley with Equine America Consulent de Prelet Z, Kildare’s Mikey Pender with HHS Calais (ISH), Tipperary’s Denis Lynch with Cordial and Louth’s Mark McAuley with GRS Lady Amaro (ISH) for his team and they performed well, finishing as eventual runners-up behind winners Germany, with Sweden in third. There was edge-of-the-seat excitement, as the winners weren’t decided until the last rider left the arena.

Germany’s Christian Kukuk (Mumbai), Jörne Sprehe (Sprehe Hot Easy), David Will (My Prins van Dorperheide) and Christian Ahlmann (Blueberry) were the victors on this occasion, and their chef d’equipe Otto Becker said afterwards: “it’s a super start in the Olympic season, and I’m very happy and proud of my four riders!”

The Irish team went into the competition in pole position, which meant they had the best draw and jumped last of the 11 teams. They put on a strong performance and, for much of the competition, it looked like Ireland would be the winners.

The 12-fence track set by Olympic course designer, Spain’s Santiago Varela, was technical and required full concentration. The opening oxer proved a challenge for many, but it was the line from fence five (an oxer) to the open water at six and on to a double of verticals at fence seven that proved most costly.

In fact, at the finish, there were only four double clear rounds in the competition – from Sweden’s world number one Henrik von Eckermann on Iliana; his wife, Switzerland’s Janika Sprunger with Orelie; Ireland’s Richard Howley with Equine America Consulent de Prelet Z and Germany’s Jörne Sprehe with Sprehe Hot Easy.

Blake had chosen Howley to jump first with Equine America Consulent de Prelet Z and they got the team off to a great start, with a clear round.

Mikey Pender was next to jump for Ireland and he also jumped clear with the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, HHS Calais (by Cavalier Royale (HOLST) out of MHS OBOS Cruise (ISH) by OBOS Quality (OLD)), who was bred in Kilkenny by Ita Brennan.

Denis Lynch and Cordial were third in for the Irish team and looked like they too would secure a clear round, but were very unfortunate to knock the last fence and incur four faults.

Mark McAuley was last to go for Team Ireland with another Irish Sport Horse, 11-year-old GRS Lady Amaro (by Amaretto Darco (BWP) out of Legal Lady (TB) by Over The River (TB)), bred in Co Wexford by Denis Hickey. The pair jumped a superb clear to ensure that Ireland finished on a first round score of zero, with a one fence advantage over Germany and Sweden, who were in a share of second place at the halfway stage. Switzerland and Brazil were on eight faults; the UAE - who were not counting points but were competing as host nation - were on 11 faults, while Great Britain and USA were on 12 each at that point. Only these top eight teams went forward to the second round, so The Netherlands, France and Belgium lost out on this occasion.

Team Ireland’s Richard Howley and Michael Pender, with Trevor Breen, reacting during the Longines League of Nations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Sunday \ Martin Dokoupil

Pressure

With the new format, only three riders from each team jump in the second round and all three scores count. Michael Blake selected Richard Howley, Mikey Pender and Mark McAuley to be the three Irish contenders.

The first riders for Germany and Sweden both jumped clear in the second round, so the pressure was on. Richard Howley was up to the challenge and he rode another clear round with Equine America Consulent de Prelet Z, which kept Ireland out in front.

As things transpired, the new format of no discard score in the second round, really took its toll.

Sweden’s Peder Fredricson incurred 12 faults, while Ireland’s second rider, Mikey Pender, picked up eight faults with HHS Calais (ISH). Meanwhile, Germany’s second rider, Jörne Sprehe, had jumped clear to push her team into the lead on four faults, ahead of Ireland on eight.

David Will, Germany’s last rider, knew that if he jumped a clear round, his team would win – but, keeping the excitement going, he had the penultimate fence down, which gave Ireland a chance of a jump-off, if their last rider, McAuley, could jump clear…

McAuley and GRS Lady Amaro (ISH) made a great effort, but the tricky distance between the water and the first part of the fence seven double caught them out and they ended on four faults, which, added to Pender’s eight faults, gave Ireland a final score of 12. Germany took victory with their eight-fault score, while Sweden finished third on 20 faults.

Team Brazil also finished on a score of 20 to take fourth, while the Swiss tally of 24 secured fifth place. The American team ended on 28 faults in sixth, the British with 36 in seventh and the UAE ended on a final total of 46 in eighth place.

Irish chef d’equipe, Michael Blake was a little disappointed with the result “because at half-time we looked like we could snatch it. But overall, if you told me this morning we were going to be second, against the strong teams that were there, I would have been happy overall. In the end, it didn’t go our way, but that’s the sport!” he said.

Howley pointed out that the team’s second-place finish is still good news: “This puts us in a great position moving forward, today was top-level sport, a difficult course with very strong teams here, so I think it was a great result. If we had one fence less, we were in a jump-off for first place, so we weren’t far away!” he said.

This result gives Ireland a welcome 90 points from their first outing in the Longines League of Nations, heading into the second leg in Ocala, Florida, USA, in mid-March. The two remaining legs will take place in June at St Gallen (SUI) and Rotterdam (NED), after which the top eight of the 10 competing nations will make the cut to the very first Longines League of Nations™ Final in Barcelona (ESP) in October.

Irish ribbons

Competition had got underway in Abu Dhabi last Thursday, February 8th, where in the 1.25m Junior Stakes class, Marta Hughes-Bravo rode HHS Fortune into third place.

Meanwhile, the 14-year-old Irish-bred gelding HHS Washington (ISH) bred by Miguel Bravo in Co Kilkenny and formerly ridden by Mikey Pender, took victory in the five-star 1.45m class, ridden by Duarte Seabra (POR). HHS Washington (by Tinaranas Inspector (WESTF) out of Cadiz (ISH) by Cavalier Royale (HOLST)) came out on top of a field of 68 to claim the winner’s prize.

Richard Howley on the nine-year-old gelding Zodiak du Buisson Z (VDL Zirocco Blue x Dutch Capitol Z) won the five-star 1.50m Grand Prix Qualifier. From 47 starters, 19 got through to the jump-off, where Howley jumped clear again in 38.94 seconds, which couldn’t be beaten, while Denis Lynch riding 11-year-old stallion Vistogrand took ninth place, also jumping double clear but in a slower time of 44.73 seconds.

In Friday’s two-star 1.40m Speed Stakes, Gabrielle Enright on Unreachable Z claimed eighth place for Ireland, while in the two-star 1.30m two-phase class, Trevor Breen rode Be Qvikly Star into ninth place.

Lynch secured another top-10 finish, when taking ninth place with Cordial in the five-star 1.45m Speed Stakes, followed by a sixth place in the five-star 1.60m President of the UAE Show jumping Cup class, this time riding Vistogrand.

Saturday’s two-star 1.35m Classic saw Billy Twomey feature, when he finished in seventh place with a double clear on Diego del Caribe.