Michael Blake names Irish team for Longines FEI Nations Cup in Abu Dhabi

The Irish Show Jumping team has been named for tomorrow’s (Saturday) Longines FEI Nations Cup at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, which is the only Nations Cup qualifier taking place in the Middle East this year.

Irish Show Jumping development team manager Michael Blake

The Abu Dhabi fixture comes less than a week after the season opener in Florida, USA where Ireland finished fourth. Ireland have been drawn second to jump of seven teams in Abu Dhabi and Development team manager Michael Blake has named the following team:

Tipperary’s Shane Breen with Ipswich Van De Wolfsakker – owned by Breen Equestrian, Jos Lansink, & Konstantin Pysarenko
Tipperary’s Trevor Breen with Escapade H – owned by Gebroeders van Manen
Louth’s Mark McAuley with Jasco VD Bisschop – owned by Eva Lundin
Derry’s David Simpson with Jenson 55 – owned by Charlotte Platt

Ireland will face teams from Germany, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the home team from the UAE.

Following Abu Dhabi, Ireland’s next Nations Cup outing will come at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida on March 2nd. Ireland’s first points-scoring outing under team manager Rodrigo Pessoa in Europe Division 1 will come at La Baule in France on May 19th.

Saturday’s Longines FEI Nations Cup in Abu Dhabi begins at 12.30pm Irish time and is live on FEITV.

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

Equiline – Official athlete clothing supplier of Team Ireland Equestrian