The Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida opened last week with a double for Shane Sweetnam, and Wednesday saw the Corkman join Conor Swail and Darragh Kenny to kick off week two with a hat-trick of Irish wins.

Back-to-back wins in the Gain/Alltech Autumn League have moved Eddie Moloney alongside Cian O’Connor at the top of the leaderboard with just the final remaining.

The organisers of the Owners’ Pony and Young Riders Show are aiming to celebrate raising €250,000 for charity at Millstreet this weekend.

A horse ridden by an Irish show jumper is believed to have tested positive for a prohibited substance earlier this year.

Five months after a trade delegation to China led by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney heralded the opening of the country as a possible market for Irish horses, the major obstacles of quarantine and a direct flight have yet to be resolved.

Ireland’s show jumpers battled to second place in the world’s richest nations cup on a superb weekend that saw their compatriots pick up medals at the European Junior Eventing Championships and in the pentathlon at the Junior World Championships.

Shane Sweetnam was disappointed when Cian O’Connor was selected ahead of him for the Olympics... and the rest is history.

It wouldn’t come as a big surprise to find that Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine is putting the controversy over Denis Lynch behind him, and he would be forgiven for, briefly, taking his focus off the Olympics today, as he aims to engineer a get-out-of-jail performance in Hickstead.

Camilla Speirs holds second place after dressage in the CIC short-format three-star at the Tattersalls International Horse Trials in Co Meath.

Michael Ryan was his usual assured self yesterday after riding Dromgurrihy Blue to equal 10th in the dressage phase of the Irish Field CCI three-star class at Tattersalls International Horse Trials.

Ireland finished last in yesterday’s Italian Nations Cup in Rome yesterday, having been severely hampered by the elimination of Niall Talbot and Nicos de la Cense in the opening round.

The temperature in Rome was high yesterday, matched by the spirit in the Irish camp, if Billy Twomey is any sort of barometer.

Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine’s prediction that yesterday’s French Nations Cup would be a difficult test proved accurate, as Ireland finished joint fifth of the eight teams.

The FEI Nations Cup Series begins today in La Baule, France, and, important as it is, it will play second fiddle to the Olympics.

Cian O’Connor’s improving relationship with his new horse Blue Loyd has given him cause for optimism heading into today’s $125,000 World Cup class at Florida’s FTI Winter Equestrian Festival.

DECLAN CULLEN claimed the feature three-star class at the Johnson & Perrott Land Rover International Horse Trials in Ballindenisk, Co Cork, yesterday.

IRELAND’S show jumpers failed in their goal of Olympic qualification at the European Championships in Madrid, Spain, yesterday, while Billy Twomey also saw his aspirations for an individual medal come crashing down.

BILLY TWOMEY punched the air yesterday after producing his second foot-perfect round in the European Championships in Madrid to leave him in second place in the battle for individual honours.

IRELAND lie third in the FEI Nations Cup Series and preparations for a shot at Olympic qualification at next month’s European Championships in Madrid are on target, so, all in all, manager Robert Splaine is entitled to be reasonably satisfied.

IRELAND will contest this year’s Meydan Nations Cup Series, despite a 60% cut in funding by its affiliate, ShowjumpingIreland, coupled with a reduction in the Irish Sports Council contribution to high performance.

IRELAND’S show jumpers finished in equal fifth place yesterday in a closely-fought nations cup at Gijon, Spain.

CIARAN GLYNN took over the best-of-the-Irish mantle in the HSBC World Cup Qualifier at Tattersalls, Co Meath, yesterday, when slotting into eighth at the end of the dressage phase.