Irish domination on opening day of Falsterbo Nations Cup show in Sweden

Irish riders have made a clean sweep of the opening two competitions on day one of the five-star Swedish Nations Cup show in Falsterbo, with wins for Billy Twomey and Mark McAuley along with a runner-up finish for Paul O’Shea.

Cork’s Billy Twomey was first out of the blocks – storming to a comfortable win in the curtain-raising 1m45 speed class with the Joe Flynn-owned Irish Sport Horse Ardcolum Duke (pictured). They crossed the line clear in 60.04 – almost three seconds faster than runner-up Hamad Ali Al Kirbi (UAE) in second with Uxmal D’Ysieux, while Sweden’s Malin Baryard Johnsson finished third with H&M Second Chance.

The afternoon’s feature 1m50 speed class saw another Irish win, with Co Louth’s Mark McAuley (pictured below) taking the lead when 11th to jump with the Eva Lundin-owned 9-year-old Jasco V Bisschop. Their time of 72.94 would remain unbeaten after the 47 starters had finished. Limerick’s Paul O’Shea with Skara Glens Presence came closest to matching it when last to jump (74.31) and finished second to make it an Irish 1-2.

Twomey, McAuley and O’Shea are all part of Rodrigo Pessoa’s Irish team for Sunday’s Longines FEI Nations Cup in Falsterbo. They are joined on the Irish squad, sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange and Devenish, by Daniel Coyle and Bertram Allen.

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