Sweetnam and Coyle Cruz into final

Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (ISH) (Photos: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile)

Irish pair qualify in top three while O’Connor is not giving up hope

The aspiration that Irish show jumping could contribute to Team Ireland’s medal haul at the Olympic Games in Paris remains intact with two of the world’s top-ranked athletes, Shane Sweetnam and Daniel Coyle, safely through to tomorrow’s individual final.

Sweetnam and Coyle are ranked 12^th and 11^th in the world respectively and they cruised through to the final with sumptuous rounds.

Sweetnam partnered the Irish-bred James Kann Cruz (ISH) clear in an electric time of 73.35 seconds to go through in second, just behind home favourite Julien Epaillard and Dubai de Cedre.

Coyle and the brilliant mare Legacy delivered a third clear round of the week, having contributed a double clear as the Underwriting Exchange Ireland Show Jumping squad finished seventh in the team final on Friday. They were only three-tenths of a second slower than their fellow Irish combatants, to sit in third.

The other Irish pair, Cian O’Connor and Maurice, had one fence down to lie three places outside the 30 qualifiers. It is no surprise that O’Connor is not giving up hope yet however, given that the Karlswood Stables supremo also missed the cut in 2012 but was called up the morning of the final in London after horses ranked above him and Blue Loyd had succumbed to injury. The Meath-based Kildare native went on to win a bronze medal.

Sweetnam, from Castlemagner, was first of the Irish into the arena at the Palace of Versailles. Still smarting from the desperately unlucky final pole drop in Friday’s final, the Cork pilot wanted his 11-year-old grey bred by Patrick Connolly in Galway and owned by Gizmo Partners, to be seen at his best and they combined brilliantly to do just that.

In the afternoon heat, the pair set off quickly around the galloping track, establishing their rhythm early on, with James Kann Cruz confidently using his big stride and never looking in danger to jump clear in a fast time.

This ensures the combination will have the advantage of jumping late in the competition tomorrow morning, Sweetnam was delighted with the performance.

“He jumped great, and still had a lot of energy, which I was a little worried about because this is unknown territory and it’s quite hot out there,” said Sweetnam.

“The course is quite tall but straightforward, probably the same for everyone going out there. The big thing I wanted was to be quick enough, as if I knocked one I’d still have a chance for tomorrow. But now I don’t even have to worry about that.”

After the intensity of team qualifying and the final last Thursday and Friday, Sweetnam was sure to freshen his horse up, taking his horse on a hack through the Versailles woods.

“I’ve just been trying to build up his energy. There’s a nice track up through the woods so I went there with him on Saturday and he was fairly fresh so I wasn’t concerned, but you never know.

“He loves to jump! Normally we have clear rounds, and he was a bit unlucky the last two days. We didn’t really have the rub of the green on those days. When I watched the video of Friday, I think he breathed on it!

“I don’t know what happened but on the replay it looked like he didn’t touch it so it’s just show jumping. You just have to have a little bit of luck and today we had luck.”

Daniel Coyle with Legacy

Coyle has never hidden his love of Legacy, who has been winning World Cups and Nations Cups this year. Ariel Grange’s 14-year-old continues to surprise even her rider, however, particularly with her enduring enthusiasm on this most testing of weeks.

“She’s 14 but her mind doesn’t think it, which is hard sometimes,” declared Coyle, who is from Ardmore in Co Derry. “She’s feeling great. In the warm-out I felt that. I was expecting her to be more tired but when I felt she was fresh I thought ‘Okay, I need to change a little bit how I’m going to rider her today, otherwise I’ll end up making a mistake.’

“There was a lot of pressure today, in all the wrong ways. Nothing to do with the jumping or the crowd, just trying to get to the finish with a good score because, after this week, she deserves to be in the final no matter what. I’d have been disappointed if she wasn’t.

“I was very aware that time was going to be important today. The course was a lot more simple today than the previous two. I know I said the last day that it was very tough the first day but couldn’t really tell the difference between the first two days. This one for sure was a little softer and there’s a lot of clears (20 in total) which is a little scary.”

Coyle revealed that while Legacy remained hale and hearty, he hadn’t been at peak health in the previous 24 hours.

“I think I had some food poisoning yesterday so last night was not a good night at all. I’m gonna go and rest from this moment. It’s not been a good 24 hours but after this it’ll get a little better.

“I didn’t expect her to be so fresh and we’ve been treating her with everything we can to feel as fresh as possible. She’s obviously enjoying it… she must be.”

Cian O’Connor and Maurice

Meanwhile, O’Connor emphasised that he could not be disappointed with how Maurice had performed, or by his own fortunes during a season for the Underwriting Exchange Ireland Show Jumping Team that included 11 podium finishes in Nations Cup, with elite victories in Ocala and Aachen included among them.

And he wasn’t ruling out a repeat of the miraculous heroics of 12 years ago.

“I’m not upset,” said O’Connor. “These horses aren’t machines, they’ve been jumping all over the world. We started up with Maurice in Spain last October, went to Mexico, California, Florida, Ocala, Rome, Aachen, they gave us their all.

“A horse has a pole down and people get excited and say it wasn’t able for it or whatever. A load of nonsense. The horse jumped really well, just touched a plank. He earned his place to be here, jumped class again today and they’re not machines. We have to respect them and respect all they give us. I’m absolutely over the moon with the horse.

“It’s not over yet! I’m only three places out!”

BREEDING

CSF JAMES KANN CRUZ (ISH) – 2013 gelding by Kannan (KWPN) out of CSF Telly Cruz (ISH) by Cruising (ISH)[TIH]. Breeder: Patrick Connolly, Co Galway. Owner: Gizmo Partners, LLC. Rider: Shane Sweetnam (IRL).