THE Irish show jumping team safely qualified for tomorrow’s (Friday) team final at the Paris Olympic Games. Michael Blake’s team of Shane Sweetnam, Daniel Coyle and Cian O’Connor finished on a total of nine faults in sixth place today at the Chateau de Versailles where the temperature reached 30 degrees. The best 10 teams qualified and start tomorrow on a score of zero.

Ireland were drawn ninth of the 20 teams in today’s qualifier and Shane Sweetnam was first out for the team with the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz (Kannan x Cruising) who was bred by Patrick Connolly. The pair picked up five faults at fence 5a, an oxer early on the course.

They navigated the rest of the tricky course, designed by Santiago Varela and Gregory Bodo, with ease to put a solid score on the board. Speaking afterwards, Sweetnam said: “It’s a solid start. Gizmo jumped great, that was a cheap rail for us and not the usual kind of fence [that we would have] but we held it together and finished with a solid score."

On the course, he added: “Santiago and Gregory have built a great course. It’s very technical, light and there are a lot of different colours we haven’t seen before. I think they've done a great job. It's not easy to get a clear but there haven't been any disasters either.”

Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (ISH) at the Paris Olympic Games \ Tomas Holcbecher

Magic

Daniel Coyle was next with Ariel Grange’s 14-year-old mare Legacy (Chippendale Z x Bon Ami). Grange walked the mare to the in-gate and the pair, at their first Olympic Games, delivered a foot perfect clear round to put Ireland in an excellent position.

“She was magic,” Coyle said following the round. “Everything she's done for me already… she doesn’t owe me anything but when you get to places like this and she gives these kind of performances, you always expect more and expect more of yourself. We're not here just to compete, as a team we'll be fighting really, really hard; we have a good team and I can't wait for tomorrow.”

Asked if he felt the pressure, he said: “Of course you do. It's like nothing I've ever experienced. I've been to championships and have ridden a lot of pressure rounds, but that's something different. You've got your whole family there, it’s just different.”

Cian O’Connor was in the anchor position with Maurice (Thunder vd Zuuthoeve x Eros Platiere), the 12 year-old-gelding who is owned by O’Connor and the Stoute family from Keysoe International. The pair faulted once in the middle part of the combination (13b) on the last line, which caused the most difficulty throughout the day, and added a single time fault to finish Ireland's day with another good round.

Cian O'Connor and Maurice at the Paris Olympic Games \ Tomas Holcbecher

Talking afterwards, O’Connor said: “There was a lot of noise when I went in, Julian Epaillard (FRA) was clear before me and 20,000 people came to their feet, so I had to settle him a little bit. And then fence two, we jumped up a little bit over and I felt he didn't travel so I added a stride to fence three. I just found it hard to get him forward at the start of the course. Then he settled into it, jumped the water well and the wall.

"And maybe I had legged him quite a bit earlier in the course that when I went to hold him in the triple combination, he just got a little bit straight in his back and touched off the middle part. But overall, he jumped very well, I was happy with him.”

O’Connor also praised his teammates and said: “We'll have a good chat tonight, and hopefully we can jump few more clears tomorrow.”

Drama

There was plenty of drama throughout the day, none more so than one of the medal contenders, Switzerland, missing out on tomorrow’s final when finishing in 12th place on 24 faults. The three to a team format came to the fore when, with no drop score, they had to count eight faults from Steve Guerdat (Dynamix de Belheme), and 12 from Pius Schwizer (Vancouver de la Lanlore) before Martin Fuchs finished with four faults aboard Leone Jei.

A dejected Steve Guerdat said: “It was a very bad round. The result was bad obviously but the round was bad and that is very rare with that mare. That is the worst round we have had in our career so I feel very bad right now and I have to try find solutions.”

After his team missed out, Fuchs added: “I actually was very confident going in, believing that we could jump a clear round and qualify for the final. I was highly motivated and he felt great throughout the course. Maybe I was almost a bit too confident in the triple combination when he jumped the plank so well, I didn't focus enough for the c element, I was already thinking about bringing it home and not about jumping the fence first.”

Sweden were cruising with two clear rounds on the board before their final rider, two-time individual silver medallist Peder Fredricson, had a surprise run out at the wall (fence 11) with the 18-year-old gelding Catch Me Not Z. They also knocked the middle part of the combination and picked up nine time faults to finish on a total of 17. That saw the defending champions qualify in eighth place.

“It was very good until the wall and maybe I turned a little bit tight and then he was a bit surprised and didn't know if he was supposed to jump it, so he stopped,” Fredricson explained. “That really surprised me because I had a very good feeling until then. With this format, when all three scores count, I had a bit of pressure on me to make sure it didn't happen again.”

After jumping a great clear round, Brazil’s Pedro Veniss was eliminated for blood on the flank, and teammate Rodrigo Pessoa then decided to withdraw as the team had no chance to qualify.

Germany in the driving seat

Germany finished best of the 10 qualified teams today with zero faults after three clear rounds from Christian Kukuk (Checker 47), Philipp Weishaupt (Zineday) and Richard Vogel (United Touch S). USA were next best on six faults with clears from Laura Kraut (Baloutinue) and Karl Cook who was substituted in this morning on Caracole de la Roque when Kent Farrington was forced to withdraw. McLain Ward (Ilex) finished on six faults.

Britain also has a good start, bolstered by their defending Olympic champion Ben Maher who decided at the last minute to ride the 11-year-old mare Dallas Vegas Batilly instead of Point Break.

“Vegas feels very on it and focused this week. From day one when we got here, she's been very settled and very calm in her head. I'm not having to do much warm up at all, which is helping me a little bit in the heat. She feels really ready and confident and that gives me a lot of a lot of confidence,” Maher, who won gold in Tokyo with Explosion W, commented.

The 10 teams all start on zero tomorrow for the final when the medals will be decided. The action kicks off at 2pm local time (1pm Irish time).

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