THE IRISH SHOW jumping team have finished as runners-up at the FEI Nations Cup in Wellington, Florida for the second year in-a-row.
A jump-off was needed to decide the outcome, with hosts the USA coming out on top after a brilliant performance from Team Ireland.
After two rounds of jumping, the sides were tied on eight faults a-piece and, for just the second time in the Nations Cups’ history at the Winter Equestrian Festival, a jump-off was required.
Team manager Michael Blake’s quartet of Derry’s Daniel Coyle, Down’s Lorcan Gallagher, Limerick’s Paul O’Shea an Cork’s Shane Sweetnam were on song at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, as four horses made their Nations Cup debut.
Coyle, with the Ariel Grange-owned Farona, and Gallagher,with Hunters Conlypso II owned by the Dacantos Group, both jumped perfect double clear rounds.
Sweetnam and Kirschwasser SCF finished with one fence down in the first round and eight in the second, while O’Shea and Imerald Van’t Voorhof ended up with one fence down in each round.
The Irish Show Jumping team, sponsored by Devenish and The Underwriting Exchange, finished as runners-up in the Nations Cup at Wellington, Florida in the early hours of this morning, with the USA taking victory after a jump-off#Devenish #TheUnderwritingExchange #Equiline pic.twitter.com/8rOTEkn8sK
— Team IRL Equestrian (@TeamIRLEq) March 3, 2019
Coyle and Farona went forward in the jump-off for the Irish, but finished with 12 faults against the clock.
“It’s a bittersweet night, but I’m very happy and proud with my own horse tonight and the American team was very competitive,” Gallagher said, as quoted by Horse Sport Ireland, afterwards. “We were all on horses that were competing in a Nations Cup for the first time.
“Obviously we are disappointed we didn’t get the win when we were that close. Each round, a couple of rails fell that maybe wouldn’t have another day, but it’s great to have this competition here for us and to see what the horses are capable of.
“[We are] building towards qualifying for Barcelona and for the European Championships to qualify for the Olympics. We still haven’t done that, so that is the main goal.”
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