IRELAND'S Capt. David O'Brien scored a notable victory on the opening day of the Nations' Cup show at Falsterbo in Sweden this evening (Thursday) when seeing off a star-studded field to win the Grand Prix Qualifier on the Irish-bred 'Mo Chroi'.

THOUGH the Nations' Cup contest at Falsterbo in Sweden will be the highlight of equestrian sporting action this weekend, Irish riders will also compete at a five-star show in Calgary, Canada, and at four-star competitions in La Coruna, Spain and Geesteren in the Netherlands.

OFFALY-born Darragh Kenny took both first and fifth place today (Sunday) at the Lake Placid Grand Prix in New York State. The 22 year-old picked up 18,000 euro for his win on Missy Clarke's Irish-bred Cavalier Royale gelding 'Gael Force'.

A TOUGH battle amongst some of the world's top riders and horses at Estoril in Portugal tonight (Saturday) saw two Irishmen finish in the top ten of a 42-strong starting field.

TG4 will broadcast one-hour highlight programmes of five legs of the 2010 Meydan Nations' Cup series, beginning on Friday July 9. All the programmes will be broadcast on Friday nights at 7.30pm and will concentrate on Irish performances and will feature interviews with Irish riders.

IRELAND'S Billy Twomey picked up 5,000 euro for a second place in tonight's (Friday) jump-off competition at the five-star Portuguese show in Estoril, riding Michelle Gatland's bay stallion 'Tackeray'. Tipperary's Denis Lynch also placed fifth with Thomas Straumann's gelding 'Abbervail van het Dingeshof'.

IRELAND will field Shane Breen, Jessica Kurten, Dermott Lennon, Denis Lynch and Capt. David O'Brien as its squad to do battle in the Swedish Nations' Cup at Falsterbo next week.

AFTER a full investigation into the facts surrounding the disqualification of Sapphire (McLain Ward) at the FEI World Cup Final in Geneva, the FEI has determined that the horse was incorrectly eliminated from the second round on 16 April 2010, however, Sapphire’s disqualification from the final round of the World Cup remains in place.

CAPT. David O'Brien and Billy Twomey shared third place with four other riders in this afternoon's (Sunday) DFS Derby at Hickstead, England, and a total of three Irish-bred horses finished in the top ten.

LIMERICK'S Joan Greene scored a third place finish in today's (Sunday) Norway Grand Prix at Drammen with Tim O'Shea's mare 'Biscaya d'Eversem', completing the first round with a zero score, but putting four faults on the board in the three horse jump-off.