Irish Show Jumping team named for Friday’s Aga Khan at the Dublin Horse Show

With just six days to go before the start of the Dublin Horse Show at the RDS, Irish Show Jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa has named his four team members for next Friday’s Longines FEI Nations Cup of Ireland for the Aga Khan trophy.

The 2018 Irish Aga Khan team, sponsored by Devenish and The Underwriting Exchange is as follows:

Louth’s Mark McAuley with Utchan De Belheme – owned by Charlotte McAuley
Mayo’s Cameron Hanley with Quirex – owned by Patrick Mielnik
Limerick’s Paul O’Shea with Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu – owned by Skara Glen Stables, Whipstick Farm, P. Hurter & P. Agnew
Cork’s Billy Twomey with Kimba Flamenco – owned by Kim Barzilay

Pessoa (pictured) will name his reserve rider for the Aga Khan next week and speaking ahead of Ireland’s biggest annual equestrian event, he reflected on what has been a very successful recent run of results.

“We have come off a very successful triple header [Falsterbo, Aachen and Hickstead]. We have had a week off and like always we are looking forward to coming to Dublin and hopefully this team can go all the way. There will of course be a lot of expectation for the Aga Khan but this is a very experienced team of riders that will give it everything,” he said.

The Irish team arrive home to Dublin on the back of a brilliant win in the penultimate round of the Longines FEI Nations Cup series at Hickstead in England last weekend. That result confirmed Ireland’s qualification for October’s Nations Cup World Final in Barcelona, and they will be hoping for another good result in front of their home fans at the RDS on Friday. Victory would not only see Ireland lift the Aga Khan trophy for the first time since 2015 but would also see Pessoa’s team finish top of the 2018 Europe Division 1 Nations Cup league table.

The Stena Line Dublin Horse Show gets underway on Wednesday at the RDS. Friday afternoon’s Nations Cup for the Aga Khan Trophy will be shown live on RTE TV. Other highlights during five days of action include the Young Horse classes sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland, the Land Rover Puissance on Saturday and the Longines International Grand Prix of Ireland on Sunday.

The Irish Show Jumping Team is sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange and Devenish
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