11/07/09 CAPT. David O'Brien and the Minister for Defence's 'Kiltoom' finished fifth in the speed class tonight (Saturday) at the four-star show in Geesteren, the Netherlands, while 24 year-old Swiss-based Thomas Ryan steered 'Urleven van de Helle' into ninth.

FEI STATEMENT Lausanne, 10 July 2009 SAMPLES TAKEN FROM THE HORSES OF CAMERON HANLEY (IRL) RETURN NEGATIVE RESULTS The samples taken from the three horses ridden by Cameron Hanley (IRL) at CSI 3* Balve (GER) from 11 to 14 June in the framework of the FEI Medication Control Programme (MCP) were tested and have returned negative results. “The FEI has acted in consistence with its testing procedures and is satisfied with this result,” said FEI General Counsel Lisa Lazarus. “While the outcome of this situation establishes that none of Cameron Hanley's horses competing at Balve were administered prohibited substances, Mr Hanley acted appropriately by stepping aside from competition in Aachen to avoid attracting unnecessary attention to the Irish team. While it is never a positive thing to discover a used syringe on competition grounds - the decision to avoid competing to remove doubt as to the perceived fairness of competition should be commended.”

10/07/09 HORSE Sport Ireland Show Jumping Manager Robert Splaine has named the Irish team for the sixth round of the Meydan series in Falsterbo in Sweden next weekend. The team in alphabetical order is: Cameron Hanley; SIEC Livello or Southwind Darragh Kerins; Night Train Denis Lynch; Lantinus Capt David O'Brien; Kiltoom (ISH) The team shows two changes from Aachen with Cameron Hanley and Darragh Kerins replacing Billy Twomey and Cian O'Connor. “Billy and Cian's horses did well in Aachen and will be important to us later in the year so I don't want to overuse them,” Splaine said today (Friday). “Darragh Kerins has had two excellent performances in America during the year culminating in a very strong showing at the World Cup Final in Las Vegas. I am delighted he has come over from the States,” he explained.

10/07/09 THE ELITE contingent of international riders attending the Global Champions Tour at Estoril in Portugal had their first serious clash in the jump-off competition tonight (Friday), with Ireland's Cian O'Connor taking a creditable fourth place on Aileen Bryan's gelding 'Rancorrado'. The feature class saw Dutch rider Henk van de Pol and 'Rhodos' laying down an intimidating finish in the eight horse jump-off, outpacing German runner-up Marco Kutscher on 'Cornet Obolensky' by over five seconds. Meath-based O'Connor, though, recorded one of just four double clear rounds achieved in the contest, which saw 41 combinations line out for the five-star Prix Estoril trophy. The show's Grand Prix takes place on Saturday night.

05/07/09 IRELAND'S Denis Lynch this afternoon (Sunday) walked away with one of show jumping's richest and most prestigious prizes when he won the Aachen Grand Prix in Germany on Flaminia Straumann's bay gelding 'Lantinus'. The Aachen Grand Prix has been won by Irish riders only twice in recent times - in 1999 Trevor Coyle took the trophy with 'Cruising', and in 1978 Eddie Macken was victorious with the legendary 'Boomerang'. Today Tipperary-born Lynch collected 115,000 euro after a nail-biting jump-off against Australia's Edwina Alexander, France's Philip LeJeune and German Olympic Gold Medallist Marcus Ehning, whose time was faster than the Irish rider's but who paid the price for speed by dislodging a pole to finish third on four faults.

04/07/09 CLEM McMahon was not far from his birthplace when he won the fifth leg of the 2009 HSI Irish Sport Horse Studbook Showjumping Series at Omagh show today (Saturday), claiming the 6/7 Year-Old Final with Susan Stewart's bay mare 'Belle Fire'.

04/07/09 IRELAND'S Aidan Killeen this afternoon (Saturday) won the Young Rider Farewell class at the European Championships in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands, with the 11 year-old Irish-bred grey gelding 'Du Noble', seeing off Danish challenger Christian Sou by almost two-and-a-half seconds.

03/07/09 IRELAND has finished joint fourth in the Young Rider European Team Championships at Hoofddorp in the Netherlands today (Friday).

02/07/09 IRELAND had a mixed second day (Thursday) at the European Championships for both Junior and Young Riders at Hoofddorp in the Netherlands.

02/07/09 LIve updates to the Meydan FEI Nations Cup at Aachen tonight (Thursday) will be available here. Ireland is first to jump of ten teams.