Ireland’s senior jumping team finished fourth in the BMO Nations Cup in Spruce Meadows late on Saturday night.
Michael Blake’s team of Daniel and Jordan Coyle, Bertram Allen and Tom Wachman finished on a score of eight faults with a magnificent double clear from Wachman and Tabasco De Toxandria Z the highlight for Ireland.
Britain won the Nations Cup after a dramatic finish which saw Germany’s Richie Vogel and Cloudio drop the very last pole to finish on four faults and allow Donald Whitaker jump to victory for Di Lampard’s team. USA filled the podium, also on four faults but with a slower time.
Blake was satisfied with his team’s performance but was left a little frustrated with some costly errors that ultimately cost the Irish.
“That feels like one that has gotten away from us, not for the first time this year. Just some costly mistakes at crucial times that could be cut out and we’d be close to a zero score.
“I said after Dublin that you need to be perfect at five-star level and that was how it played out again today. Britain finished on a zero score and the very last came down from the Germans, which has cost them.
“There was some highlights – what more can I say about Tom. A 20-year-old kid anchoring this team and producing a double clear, it’s incredible. He just has the brightest future. And it was great to see Bertram’s horse jumping clear again, as well as Legacy.
“I feel for Jordan, he was very disappointed with the water today but his horse jumped super aside from that so there’s encouragement to be taken from it.”
The Irish were the final team to jump in round one of the 11 nations, with Paris Olympian Daniel Coyle and his star mare Legacy first into the arena.
The stalwart duo made a solid start for Blake’s men and came home with four faults.
Allen and his flashy nine-year-old Quonquest De Rigo, who had been stars of Nations Cup success earlier in the season, showed exactly why Blake has such high hopes for their future with a flawless round.
Jordan Coyle, possibly the most in-form rider in the world at present, added another solid four fault round, meaning Ireland’s best total for round one could be four.
That was if 20-year-old anchor Tom Wachman and Tabasco De Toxandria Z could be perfect, and perfect they were, ensuring that a second round assault on the leaders remained intact.
At the break, there was just a pole in it at the head of affairs, with Britain and Germany both going into round two on a zero score after what have proved a difficult class to that point.
Allen and Quonquest De Rigo couldn’t repeat their clear effort from earlier as a pole came down at the second part of the Rolex double before Sophie Hinners steadied the German ship with a double clear on Iron Dames Singclair.
Ben Maher and Enjeu De Grisien did the same as Ireland faced an uphill battle to win with just Jordan Coyle and Wachman to come.
A foot in the water for the second time from Chaccolino and Coyle meant another four faults to leave Ireland on eight and victory out of sight.
A disappointed Coyle said after his round: “It’s not often a horse jumps double clear in a Nations Cup but have a foot in the water in both rounds. I’ve let him down there.”
With German and British combinations adding clears, a podium finish was out virtually out of sight for Ireland but Wachman, following on from his double clear in the home Nations Cup at the Dublin Horse Show, repeated the feat with Tabasco De Toxandria Z.
Wachman said: “He’s a brilliant horse, I’m so happy with Tabasco. We’ve a great team at home in Karlswood with Cian (O’Connor), Ross (Mullholland) and Kim (Hendricks), his groom, and I’m really looking forward to the Grand Prix now tomorrow.”