Taylor Vard upbeat about getting a result in Florida follow Robert Splaine injury
In doing so, he would get one up on his contemporary James Tarrant, who led an Irish team to sixth place yesterday in the 11-team nations cup season opener in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.
Splaine had last week described the competitions as an opportunity “for some new combinations and some relatively unexposed horses to gain valuable experience” and Vard said it was anticipated, regardless of the manager’s accident, that he would be in the US.
“Robert had talked about sending me over to prep things, anyway. It was on the cards that I would be here in support,” said Vard, who previously acted as chef d’equipe in Finland and La Baule, France.
His team in today’s nations cup, which forms part of the Horses In The Sun (HITS) series, is Richie Moloney (Ypaja Yando), Shane Sweetnam (Eregast Van’t Kiezelhof), David Blake (Binkie), Cian O’Connor (Sam Du Challois), and Kevin Babington (Mark Q) and Vard was typically upbeat, despite three of the mounts entering new territory.
“You would like to think that the team is strong. It’s a step up in level for Cian’s, Richie’s and David’s horses, but Shane’s horse has a little bit of mileage. We are aiming for a top-three finish, and I’m confident that’s within our capability, but you never know, we could win it. I prefer to approach competitions in a positive mood, anyway, and the riders feel similarly.”
Interestingly, he said the Mackens, as in the legendary Eddie and his son Steve, could make an impact for rival countries, but the consensus is that they US will be the ones to beat.
“The Americans are very strong, naturally, but Eddie Macken is doing a lot of work with the Mexican team, so there could be a bit of a shock on the cards. That will be a bit of a worry, but I think the Americans will be the ones to beat.
“Eddie’s son, Steve, is the chef d’equipe to the Australians, and they have high hopes, but like our team, their combinations are a little bit of unknowns. I was talking to Steve today and he said there was a lot of competition among their riders to get on the Australian team for the Olympics.
“The Canadians also have a good team, so they’ll be ones to watch.”
The feature of yesterday’s UAE nations cup from an Irish perspective was the double clear by Waterford’s Anthony Condon and the 10-year-old Aristio.
A fightback in the second round was characterised by Dermott Lennon and Fleur IV producing a clear after opening on 12 faults, while Marion Hughes and Can Ya Makan had 13 faults in the first round, but returned with a five-fault display. Brian Cournane and Javas Keltic Mist also showed improvement, opening with eight faults, but halving that in the second round.
France ran out winners on 16 faults, two better than Qatar, with Switzerland third on 19 faults. A close-scoring contest saw just two faults separating Ukraine (22), Italy (23) and Ireland (24).
Tarrant said: “This was a very tough nations cup with some strong teams and many of the fences close to maximum height and just two fences separating the top six teams.
“We were the best team in the second round and our riders and the owners of our horses deserve a lot of credit for a great effort.
“Anthony Condon and John Hales’s stallion Aristio, in particular, were outstanding, being one of only two double clear rounds.”
Who can explain the workings of Horse Sport Ireland? This week a Canadian website revealed that Ireland had “announced” a short list of eventing combinations for the Olympics.
However, HSI have yet to publish the revised line-up, though a spokesperson confirmed yesterday that the “list is correct”. Notable among the 10 riders and 14 horses on the list is 19-year-old Galway native Cathal Daniels, who produced a double clear with Rioghan Rua to help Ireland to its first nations cup victory at Boekelo last year.
As can be assumed by the above figures, four riders have two horses on the list Cork’s Austin O’Connor (Kilpatrick Knight and Balham Houdini) and Michael Ryan (Dunlough Striker and Ballylynch Adventure), Mullingar’s Joseph Murphy (Westwinds Hercules and Sportsfield Othello), and Aoife Clark (Fernhill Adventure and Wasting Light).
The remainder are: Clare Abbot (Euro Prince), Sam Watson (Horseware Lukeswell), Jonty Evans (Cooley Rorkes Drift), Padraig McCarthy (Simon Porloe), and Mark Kyle (Jemilla).
Heartening is the fact that 12 of the mounts are Irish-bred.
