Ireland manager Robert Splaine yesterday had one piece of advice for Bertram Allen going into next week’s World Cup final: Play your usual game, writes John Tynan.

The inaugural Eventing Ireland National Championships at Ballindenisk, Co Cork, will be a “major affair” according organiser Peter Fell. 

Equestrian: The precocious talent of show jumper Bertram Allen combined with the veteran experience of the stallion Romanov to beat the sport’s elite in the World Cup class in Bordeaux, France, on Saturday.

Equestrian: Irish show jumpers Denis Lynch and Bertram Allen blew away the opposition in the opening two classes at the World Cup show in Bordeaux, France, yesterday.

Equestrian: A single fence denied Bertram Allen a chance of successive World Cup wins yesterday in Stuttgart, Germany.

Equestrian: Lady luck is capricious, as show jumper Cameron Hanley will attest.

With around 3,000 entries for this weekend’s Owners Pony and Young Riders Charity Show, in Millstreet, Co Cork, organisers expect the total funding raised for good causes to top €280,000.

Show jumper Ronan McGuigan secured the biggest win of his career on Saturday night with his ‘internet horse’ Capall Zidane, taking the $50,000 Wellington Equestrian Realty Grand Prix in Florida.

Shane Sweetnam may have offloaded his top ride last year, but that does not mean he is ready to relinquish his position as a stalwart of the Irish team.

Billy Twomey believes his new acquisition, Codarco, has the talent to go all the way, including “possibly” to the Olympics, but he will be taking it one step at a time.

Aoife Clark continues to tap into a rich vein of form, giving Ireland its best ever result at the World Breeding Championships for Young Eventing Horses in Le Lion d’Angers, France, when second on Fernhill Adventure in the class for seven-year-olds.

Show jumper Denis Lynch failed to make it to the second round of yesterday’s Rolex FEI World Cup qualifier in Zurich, Switzerland, posting nine faults with All Star.

Show jumper Denis Lynch had his best World Cup result of the season yesterday when fifth in Stuttgart, Germany.

The clock was on the side of show jumper Cian O’Connor’s on Friday night, when he landed the Gain/Alltech Autumn Grand Prix League at Cavan International Show.

Denis Lynch has Lantinus and All Inclusive to choose from in the first round of tomorrow’s Global Champions Tour in Doha, Qatar, though yesterday he had yet to decide which horse to use.

SHOW JUMPER Denis Lynch is practically assured of a place in the Rolex World Cup final after finishing ninth in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday.

WITH Government expenditure under intense scrutiny, it comes as no surprise that the Army Equitation School has again featured on the radar.

THE effects of the dispute between Jessica Kürten and the owner of her top horses Lady Georgina Forbes were made visible yesterday, with the latest Rolex World Rankings showing the rider falling to 16th.

IRELAND show jumping manager Robert Splaine has given two of the next four Rolex World Cup slots to Jessica Kürten, with Cameron Hanley and Dermott Lennon sharing one apiece.

CONSIDERING Billy Twomey’s wealth of talent, it is a surprise to find he has never contested a World Cup final.

THE recently-formed Irish Show Jumping Centres Group (ISJCG) is not hanging around.

JESSICA KÜRTEN qualified for the World Cup final last Sunday and then declared her surprise at the achievement.

THE staging of the Tattersalls World Cup event remained on a knife edge last night as efforts continued to find the necessary finance.

THE swamp fever outbreak that hit the country last year is officially at an end. This week, the Department of Agriculture announced that the last restrictions on premises imposed as a result of last year’s outbreak were being lifted.

Irish Horse Board chairman Joe Walsh and director general Nicholas Finnerty have promised that a comprehensive study into the Irish sport horse industry will not be allowed gather dust on a shelf.

CAMERON HANLEY’S seventh place in the World Cup class at Vigo, Spain, last weekend has seen the selectors keep faith in him by selecting him for the penultimate round in Gothenburg.

A CHANGE of horse proved a judicious move for show jumper Cameron Hanley when he rode SIEC Concept to seventh place in Saturday’s World Cup contest in Vigo, Spain.

“IT was a close one!”

EVENTING followers will be disappointed to hear that Blarney Castle International Three-day Event will not be run this year. The event was scheduled to return to the eventing calendar in 2006, having not run since 2001.

SHOW JUMPER Jessica Kürten notched up a hat-trick of wins at Leipzig over the weekend, but failed to make a major impression in yesterday’s World Cup Qualifier.

THE new chairperson of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland, Patricia Furlong is confident the legal advice she received concerning the validity of last month’s Leinster Region election is above reproach.

A MEETING between Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) chairman Charles Hanley and Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) president Charles Powell aimed at smoothing relations between the two bodies failed to materialise yesterday, following the leaking this week of a letter written by the SJAI interim chief executive Liz Pottie.

THE formal ratification of Robert Splaine as chef d’equipe to the senior show jumping team may not take place until January, as the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) has not scheduled an executive meeting until the New Year.

PERHAPS it was an early celebration ahead of St Patrick’s Day, but Ireland’s show jumpers ensured Florida was green last Sunday when winning the first Samsung Nations Cup of the season.

KEVIN BABINGTON is reserving his firepower until Sunday’s World Cup qualifier in Florida as he bids to book his ticket for the final.

PUNCHESTOWN was bathed in the unwelcome light of politics again during the week with the publication of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee report into the circumstances of its State funding.

THE Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) selectors have made the prudent decision to nominate Trevor Coyle ahead of Jessica Kürten for the Gothenburg World Cup Show in Sweden next week.

IRELAND’S showjumping strength in depth was evident last weekend in Florida when a team riding borrowed horses was pipped by America’s top riders in a nations cup.