Irish Show Jumping team named for Thursday’s Nations Cup World Final in Barcelona

Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping team manager Robert Splaine has announced the four team members that will represent Ireland in tomorrow’s (Thursday) first round of the Nations Cup World Final at Barcelona in Spain.

Ireland have been drawn 17th to jump and will line-out in the following order:

Shane Breen with Golden Hawk (Owned by P. Sultan & Breen Equestrian)
Darragh Kenny with Go Easy De Muze (Owned by Jos Lansink & F.H. Schuttert)
Denis Lynch with All Star 5 (Owned by Thomas Straumann & Denis Lynch)
Greg Broderick with MHS Going Global (ISH) (Owned by Lee Kruger & Greg Broderick)

Eighteen teams will battle at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona which is adjacent to Barcelona’s world famous Camp Nou football stadium. Only the top eight teams will advance to Saturday’s €1.5 million final, with the remaining 10 teams advancing to the Challenge Cup final, which itself offers an impressive prize fund of €300,000.

Speaking after the tonight’s draw, team manager Robert Splaine said:
“This is the high point of FEI Furusiyya league jumping for 2016. With 18 world class teams contesting the final here in Barcelona, competition will be intense but we are looking forward to the challenge.”

The format for the Nations Cup final is different to most Nations Cup’s as the scores from the first round on Thursday do not carry forward to the second round. Team Managers have the option to change their teams for the second round, meaning Ireland’s fifth squad member, Anthony Condon with Aristio (Owned by John Hales & Anthony Condon), could possibly jump in the next round of competition.

The Irish team qualified for the prestigious World Final due their strong performance in the European top level league during 2016. This included a win at St Gallen in Switzerland and a runner-up finish at their home Nations Cup, the Aga Khan in Dublin, and are guaranteed a place in the top tier of world Show Jumping again for next season.

The Nations Cup World Final in Barcelona gets underway at 3pm Irish time and is available to watch live on FEITV.