Ireland finishes sixth in Canadian Nations’ Cup

DESPITE a superb clear first round from Cork’s Billy Twomey and Tinka’s Serenade, Ireland finished sixth tonight (Saturday) in the Canadian Nations’ Cup at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alberta.

With eight teams competing, Ireland made the cut for the second round with one of the top six nations’ scores.

Irish opener Shane Breen and Balloon had one fence down in the first round of the five-star contest, but added two time faults to another jumping error in the second round. Cork’s Shane Sweetnam and Eregast van’t Kiezelhof added a further four faults in the first round and fell foul of the clock when finishing their second outing on five faults.

Co. Down’s Conor Swail and the stallion Lansdowne were the discard score with eight faults on their first attempt, but recovered to record just four faults in the second round.

Anchorman Twomey delivered Ireland’s only zero score but had a fence on the floor on his next outing, giving the team a final tally of 21 faults.

Germany took the trophy after a jump-off with Belgium and France, on a total of eight faults.

Irish show jumping team manager Robert Splaine said tonight from Calgary: “This was an extremely competitive Nations’ Cup at the very highest level, and a few small mistakes denied us a share of the higher honours. I’d like to thank the riders and particularly the owners.”