Daniel Coyle makes it six five-star wins at Spruce Meadows with victory in ATCO Energy Cup

Derry’s Daniel Coyle has scored his sixth five-star international win of the 2017 Spruce Meadows Summer Series in Canada, after posting another impressive victory on day one of the ‘North American’ Tournament, presented by Rolex in the ATCO Energy Cup.

Daniel Coyle hoists the ATCO Energy Cup with Steven Piepgrass, Sr. Vice President and
General Manager, Storage and Liquids

Wednesday evening’s ATCO Energy 1m45 competition against the clock saw a massive start list of 98 competitors. Walking under the clock tower as the final combination to challenge the Santiago Varela(ESP) course, was 22 year-old Daniel Coyle aboard Fortis Fortuna. The 12 year-old mare owned by Sue and Ariel Grange displayed unbelievable speed, as Coyle kicked her into high gear to take over the winning spot from Leslie Howard(USA).

Coyle (pictured above) commented:

“I had two big advantages in this competition, I was able to go around once with Martha Louise and I was the final competitor to go.” He continued, “From one to two you had to jump careful because it was a tight distance, so once I jumped that, I started to gallop and then I just never stopped. Once I got her into gear like that its best to leave her there. I was still able to ride my plan and had all the correct numbers I had walked, then I made a riskier move to the wall – but she jumped it fantastic.”

Coyle overcame what seemed to be an unbeatable time set by Leslie Howard(USA), but sealed the victory by a staggering three and a half seconds. Howard would finish as runner-up with Moondoggie, with Germany’s Philipp Weishaupt taking third place aboard the 8-year-old mare Call Me Eva.

Coyle also scored a fourth place finish in Wednesday’s 1m50 Kubota Cup at Spruce Meadows with Simba De La Roque. Victory went to American World No.1 Kent Farrington with Dublin.

Daniel Coyle’s recent run of results has seen him make further gains on the Longines World rankings. The Derry native is now the fifth highest-placed Irish rider at No.42. Bertram Allen remains the top Irish rider on the standings at No.17, while Cian O’Connor this month made a huge jump of 14 places and is now at No.24. Denis Lynch is at No.33, while Darragh Kenny is No.34. Incredibly Ireland continues to have eight riders inside the top 50, including Billy Twomey (47),  Shane Sweetnam (49) and Conor Swail (50).