Rodrigo Pessoa names Irish team for Friday’s Falsterbo Nations Cup in Sweden as Bertram Allen leads Irish whitewash in opening day feature

  • 13 July 2017, 19:01

Irish Show Jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa has named his team, sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange and Devenish, for tomorrow’s (Friday) Division 1 FEI Nations Cup at Falsterbo in Sweden.

Ireland have been drawn fifth to jump of eight teams taking part and will line out as follows:

Shane Sweetnam with Chaqui Z – Owned by Spy Coast Farm LLC & Shane Sweetnam
Cian O’Connor with Callisto – Owned by Ian O’ Grady, Philippe de Balander & Ronnoco Jump Ltd
Mark McAuley with Miebello – Owned by Eva Lundin
Denis Lynch with All Star 5 – Owned by Thomas Straumann & Denis Lynch

Falsterbo will be Ireland’s fourth of six points-scoring rounds as they continue their quest to qualify for the Nations Cup world final in Barcelona (ESP). Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and the home team from Sweden will be competing for points in Falsterbo, while Norway and USA will also field teams but will not be eligible for points.

Ireland last won the Swedish Nations Cup in 2009 with a team that included Cameron Hanley (SIEC Livello), Darragh Kerins (Night Train), Capt David O’Brien (Kiltoom) and Denis Lynch (Lantinus). Falsterbo is a town located at the south-western tip of Sweden and first held a horse show in 1920.

Team manager Rodrigo Pessoa said:
“We are looking for our first Division 1 Nations Cup win of the season and if it comes tomorrow it will be very pleasant. The horses all jumped well today and we are ready to give it our best shot.”

Following Falsterbo, there will be just two rounds of the 2017 FEI Nations Cup series remaining – at Hickstead in the UK on July 28th, and Ireland’s home Nations Cup at the RDS in Dublin on August 11th where teams will compete for the Aga Khan trophy.

Allen leads Irish whitewash in Falsterbo opening day feature

Irish riders have already made their mark in Falsterbo, with Bertram Allen leading an Irish one-two-three in Thursday afternoon’s five-star 1m50 speed class. Allen took the winners prize of just over €8,000 with the nine-year-old gelding Izzy By Picobello, stopping the clock clear in 72.84 seconds. Tipperary’s Thomas Ryan filled runner-up spot with Quite Zero (74.62), while Cork’s Shane Sweetnam also took third place for Ireland with Main Road (74.76).

Bertram Allen and Izzy By Picobello

Allen and Sweetnam also featured in the prizes in the opening 1m45 speed competition. Allen partnered the 8-year-old gelding Christy Jnr to runner-up spot in the 1m45 speed class. They finished a 10th of a second behind Dutch winner Jur Vrieling with Acascia. Cork’s Shane Sweetnam took sixth place with the nine-year-old mare Indra van de Oude Heihoef.

The Falsterbo Nations Cup starts at 1.30pm Irish time on Friday and is available to watch live on FEITV, with live updates during the competition on Team Ireland Equestrian social media.

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