The Dublin Horse Show and Ireland’s home Nations Cup, with the Aga Khan Trophy on the line, is now firmly in the sights of our senior jumpers after a fourth-place finish in the five-star Agria Nations Cup of Great Britain.
On a back-and-forth afternoon at the All England Jumping Course, Hickstead, Michael Blake’s team of Cian O’Connor, Sean Monaghan, David Simpson and Jordan Coyle led after round one but dropped three places after the break as Germany prevailed on a score of eight, with the hosts second on a total of 12 and Belgium filling the podium on a total of 17.
It was ultimately a disappointing end to what had looked like a winnable Cup, but Blake could take some positives from the afternoon.
He said: “We were obviously quite happy at half time, being level with Germany and jumping quite well. Unfortunately, things unravelled a touch in round two and we just couldn’t get a clear round to apply pressure on the leaders and keep ourselves in the hunt.
“It was a new team, though, and new horses at this level and we’re all really pleased for Sean after he jumped a clear and a four on his Nations Cup debut. They were both great rounds and that will be a debut he’ll never forget – jumping clear for his country at this famous course.
“Everyone, I’m sure, will now be gearing towards Dublin and the biggest show of the year, and we will hopefully be firing on all cylinders for our home Nations Cup.”
O’Connor, in a somewhat unfamiliar role as Ireland’s pathfinder, was third into the famous arena with Canbella Blue PS, and they opened up with a four-fault round after the second last fence came down in what was an otherwise excellent round.
O’Connor had showed debut boy Monaghan and Toyger the way around, and they kicked off their Nations Cup career in style, Monaghan guiding his 13-year-old expertly around the course and keep Ireland on a zero score.
Simpson is no stranger to success at Hickstead and on the former Derby winner Pjotr van de Kruishoeve he navigated another excellent round to tag on a second zero.
That kept his teammates very much at the head of affairs with the just the anchor riders to come in round one. As poles began to drop across the board, only Ireland, Germany and the hosts could finish on a clear tally for round one after three combinations had jumped.
Blake’s men went into the break on a score of four faults and in a share of the lead with Germany after Coyle and Chaccolino dropped a pole at the final element of the triple combination.
To open proceedings in round two, the penultimate double proved costly for O’Connor again as Canbella Blue PS dropped at both elements for eight faults, leaving little room for error for the remaining three riders
Monaghan and Toyger needed to keep the score down after both Germany and Britain both had a clear each in round two. He finished on four faults but that certainly kept Ireland in the fight and kept pressure on both the hosts and then leaders Germany.
Unfortunately, Simpson dropped a pair of poles for eight faults to leave Ireland out of contention and Coyle finished with another four as the Irish dropped behind Belgium at the death.