Irish Show Jumping team for Saturday’s Nations Cup in Florida named at owners and supporters reception

A special reception for owners and supporters of the Irish Show Jumping team took place last night (Wednesday) at Trawney Farms, Wellington, Florida in the USA.

Lisa Lourie from Spy Coast Farm pictured with Irish Show Jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa and Irish rider Shane Sweetnam (Photo: Simon Stafford/StartingGate)

A special presentation was made to Lisa Lourie from Spy Coast Farm, for her contribution to the industry and the immense support she has shown to Irish rider Shane Sweetnam.

During the reception, Irish development team manager Michael Blake named his team for this Saturday’s four-star Nations Cup which takes place in Florida at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

The Irish team, sponsored by Devenish and The Underwriting Exchange is:
Derry’s Daniel Coyle with Farona owned by Ariel Grange
Down’s Lorcan Gallagher with Hunters Conlypso II, owned by the Dacantos Group
Limerick’s Paul O’Shea with Imerald Van’t Voorhof, owned by Tequestrian Farms LLC
Cork’s Shane Sweetman with Kirschwasser, owned by Spy Coast Farm LLC

(L-R) Rodrigo Pessoa, Daniel Coyle, Lorcan Gallagher,  Shane Sweetnam, Paul O’Shea and Michael Blake (Photo: Simon Stafford/StartingGate)

Ireland finished as runners-up in the Wellington Nations Cup last year having previously taken victory in 2016 and 2017 and development team manager Michael Blake is confident of another good result and said:

“We will be expecting a podium finish while hoping for a win. We are trying out a few new combinations and all the horses are jumping in their first Nations Cup. My job obviously is development and if you don’t experiment then you don’t develop so I hope I have made the correct choices and that these guys are ready. If we go with the same horses and the same riders in every Nations Cup then we can’t grow and we can’t expand.”

The Wellington Nations Cup in Florida gets underway at 12 midnight Irish time this Saturday.

The Irish Show Jumping team is sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange and Devenish.

Equiline – Official athlete clothing supplier of Team Ireland Equestrian.