Historic day for Irish Dressage as Reynolds claims top 10 finish at World Cup Final

KILDARE’s Judy Reynolds made history at Gothenburg in Sweden today (Sunday), when she scored a superb top 10 finish as the first Irish rider to compete at the Reem Acra Dressage World Cup Finals in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Riding the Joe and Kathleen Reynolds-owned gelding Vancouver K, she produced an excellent score of 77.339% to finish in eighth place overall against the world’s top Dressage riders.

The result caps an amazing few months for Reynolds, in which she broke several Irish Dressage records, on her way to booking a place for Ireland at the Olympic Games in Rio.

A packed Scandinavium Arena in Gothenburg saw Dutch rider Hans Peter Minderhoud and Glock’s Flirt crowned the new Dressage World Cup champions, just edging out home favourite Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén from Sweden with Don Auriello.

The World Cup Finals continue in Gothenbug on Monday, with Tipperary’s Denis Lynch carrying Irish hopes in the Show Jumping finale. Lynch climbed 12 places on the overall rankings following a runner-up finish with the stallion All Star 5 in the second day of competition on Saturday. He goes into the last round of jumping in joint 10th place overall, with reigning champion Steve Guerdat from Switzerland holding pole position.