TEAM Ireland Equestrian's Senior Show Jumping Manager Robert Splaine
has named his squad for the Nations' Cup in Rotterdam, Holland, which
sees Ireland's two top-ranked riders, Jessica Kurten and Denis Lynch,
together with former World champion Dermott Lennon, make their first
Meydan Superleague appearances of 2010.

The squad for the June 18 competition, in alphabetical order, is:

Shane Breen; Carmena Z
Jessica Kurten; Castle Forbes Cosma
Dermott Lennon; Hallmark Elite
Denis Lynch; Abbervail van het Dingeshof
Billy Twomey; Blue Thunder

Robert Splaine said that while he is pleased that Ireland are in
fourth place in the Meydan table he has no doubt that there is a huge
battle ahead to stay in the Meydan Superleague.

"Some of the traditionally strong countries who are behind us in the
table will now throw all their resources at the remaining shows in an
attempt to climb up the table, and we need to do everything we can to
face that challenge and not lose our hard-gained advantage.

"The consequences of relegation are very severe and countries will be
pumping in resources in an attempt to gain ground," he explained.

On the selection, he said that he was pleased to be able to call on
such experienced riders for Rotterdam.

"We have developed a strong panel of riders and to be fourth in
the Superleague without having Jessica, Denis or Dermott in action in
the series so far this year is testament to the strength of our other
combinations."

Robert Splaine said that it was vital at this point to have all the
riders and horses at Meydan level in action, due to the fact that the
next two rounds after Rotterdam (in Falsterbo and Aachen) are on
back-to-back weekends.

He said: "Falsterbo ends on Sunday and Aachen begins, in effect, the
following day. This could well be where the battle will be won or lost
and will decide whether we stay in Meydan or face relegation.

"Other countries will be hoping to capitalise on this dilemma and it's my job
to do all I can to ensure that they don't do so at our expense.
We simply have to field strong teams at
both these shows, which will really stretch our resources. In reality,
on the allowed 'five riders per show' scenario, it would require us to have
ten riders with horses at Meydan level, which we don't have at the
moment."

"In order to deal with this and ensure we have sufficient numbers of
quality horses available for Falsterbo I will probably send just four riders to
Aachen but in that event it's very important that each has a back-up 5
star Nations Cup/Grand Prix mount in case something should happen to a
horse during the show. The crucial point here is that it frees up a
rider for Falsterbo," he said.

"Overall the scheduling is not ideal but there is nothing we can do
about it now except use our resources as best we can, " he said.

"Up to now I have facilitated riders who have additional objectives such
as the Global Champions Tour by rotating the team, but we need everybody
on board now, with Falsterbo and Aachen being back-to-back and a somewhat
similar, albeit not as serious-looking, scenario arising with Dublin and
Hickstead."
 

Robert Splaine