Next Sunday in the French Nations Cup at La Baule, the Irish team will wear black armbands as a mark of respect to legendary show jumper Tommy Wade who exited the arena of life in his 80th year on Monday.

“All in all everyone is happy and it’s onwards and upwards from here,” said Irish rider Shane Breen after Sunday’s nations cup league opener in Samorin, Slovakia.

The first Irish international event of the year gets underway this weekend at Ballindenisk in Co Cork. Organiser Peter Fell told the Irish Examiner yesterday he was confident the recent adverse weather would not affect the staging of the event.

Young Galway rider Michael Duffy could hardly have hoped for a better debut in the Global Champions League when he represented the mostly-Irish Miami Celtics team, riding Efs Top Contender in the opening round of the season in Mexico City at the weekend.

There were some positive moves for Irish riders in the latest Longines rankings issued by the world governing body, the FEI, yesterday.

“You don’t win nations cups without jumping clear rounds and we didn’t jump enough of them,” said Michael Blake after he had seen the Irish show jumping team he managed fall short of repeating last year’s success in Ocala, Florida on Sunday evening.

Ireland has two show jumping teams in action this weekend for the first of this year’s nations cup fixtures. Michael Blake takes charge of affairs for the five-star meeting in Ocala, Florida, while Taylor Vard will be overseeing matters at Abu Dhabi’s five-star contest in the UAE.

Just in time for Christmas, the Belgian Competition Authority lobbed an unwelcome ‘present’ at both equestrian sport’s world governing body, the FEI, and the privately run Global Champions Tour/Global Champions League (GCT/GCL).

Now that the Global Champions Tour has concluded for another year, the FEI World Cup series provides the main international show jumping focus in the months ahead.

Ireland’s show jumping manager Rodrigo Pessoa was understandably disappointed after last Friday’s seventh-place finish in the five-star Nations Cup at St Gallen in Switzerland, even though it was one of the dispensable ones in his calendar.

Nations cups dominated last week’s show jumping headlines, but the international limelight over the next few days switches to the relatively new, mixed-nationality format that is the Global Champions League (GCL), writes Mike Dunne.

The securing of maximum points is the target of manager Rodrigo Pessoa as Ireland’s show jumping team begin their competitive season in the five-star Nations Cup at La Baule, France this Friday.

A liaison group for top-ranked show jumpers has been established following a meeting last Monday.

Goresbridge proprietor Martin Donohoe believes the catalogue for next week’s Go For Gold auction of select eventing horses compares favourably to previous years, writes John Tynan

A double clear from Wexford show jumper Bertram Allen and Izzy By Picobello ensured Valkenswaard United their third win of the season in the Global Champions League team contest in Monte Carlo yesterday.

Horse Sport Ireland has not ruled out taking the case involving Cian O’Connor to the Swiss federal courts.

Show jumper Cian O’Connor celebrated Christmas with a sixth-place finish in the Longines World Cup contest at London’s Olympia, yesterday.

Joseph Murphy was “really happy” after helping Ireland to a solid start that left them fifth of 11 teams in the European Eventing Championships at Blair Castle, Scotland, yesterday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ruled out any chance of an extra place being created for Ireland in the show jumping competition at next year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Millstreet International Horse Show begins in earnest today and the numbers tell the story: Over 6,000 entries, 1,300 stables, 110 competitions, 10 countries represented, and over €200,000 in prizemoney.

Ireland eventing manager Nick Turner believes “there’s a lot to look forward to”, as he announced his squad for September’s European Championships at Blair Castle, Scotland.

Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine was in no mood yesterday for predictions regarding today’s Furusiyya Nations Cup Series opener in Lummen, Belgium, writes John Tynan.

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.

Greg Broderick hopes to raise the temperature on Sunday in Thermal, California, where there will be a cool $1m (€940,000) on offer in the AIG Grand Prix.

It was on Monday morning that Cameron Hanley found out he was to lose the ride on all but one of his top horses, taking to Facebook to say ‘it breaks my heart’.

One of Ireland’s foremost show jumpers, Cameron Hanley, has lost the ride on almost all of his top horses.

Thurles show jumper Thomas Ryan gave Ireland its second win at the five-star show in Basel, Switzerland, at the weekend after Cork’s Billy Twomey provided the opener.

Show jumper Billy Twomey gave Ireland its first win at the five-star show in Basel, Switzerland, yesterday, taking the top prize in a 1.45mtr speed class.

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) chairman Pat Wall believes the organisation is doing enough to ensure equestrian sport is clean, but concedes “we have to continue to be vigilant”.

Denis Lynch was the top Irish earning show jumper at the weekend, scoring a second place in Saturday’s Longines Grand Prix in La Coruna, Spain, with All Star 5 to pocket €100,000.

ShowjumpingIreland (SJI) chairman Tony Hurley has confirmed Allianz Insurance will again support the Make-A-Wish Challenge in 2015, following its success in Cavan last weekend.

Equestrian: The treble put paid to Irish hopes in yesterday’s Gucci Masters Grand Prix in Paris, France, forcing out Cameron Hanley and Jessica Kürten in the first round.

Consideration is been given to staging show jumping at a number of greyhound stadia next year.

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

Robert Splaine will continue as manager of the Ireland show jumping team, following a review of his performance over the past two years.

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

Eventing rider Joseph Murphy experienced the highs and lows of the sport at Pau, France, at the weekend, the former seeing him achieve a career best fifth place in a four-star event with Sportsfield Othello.

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.

Irish show jumpers drove to victory across Europe at the weekend, with Jessica Kurten in the driving seat when claiming a €40,000 Subaru car in the grand prix in Odense, Copenhagen.

Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine spoke yesterday of "sacrifices" made in preparation for the Alltech World Equestrian Games, but they counted for nought as the team failed to secure a place in the Rio Olympics.