The Irish show jumping team will be vying with nine other nations for an Olympic place when they head to the European Championships in Rotterdam next month.

Meath’s Cian O’Connor has recorded Ireland’s second win of the week at the World Equestrian Festival in Germany.

This week Portugal hosts a round of the Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) as the action moves to the coastal venue of Estoril. Irish riders Bertram Allen, Michael Duffy, Denis Lynch, Darragh Kenny, and Mark McAuley will all be in the hunt for individual purses as well as appearances for their respective Global Champions League (GCL) teams.

This weekend Ireland’s show jumping team face their second of four Nations Cup qualifiers when they travel to the Baltic venue of Sopot for the Nations Cup of Poland.

New Zealander Tim Price has topped the latest FEI world eventing rankings just days after winning the George Mernagh Memorial CCI4*-S at Tattersalls International Horse Trials in Co Meath, while Ireland’s Elizabeth Power has made a significant climb following her fourth-place finish in the Irish Field CCI4*-L at the same meeting.

Ireland’s show jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa brings a five-member squad to Rome for this week’s Italian Nations Cup, but will not face the same pressure he experienced last week in France.

Cian O’Connor takes his relatively recent acquisition Irenice Horta to this week’s four-star Horses and Dreams fixture at Hagen in Germany.

Qatar stays in focus this week with a second successive five-star fixture in Doha following on from last weekend’s opening round of the Global Champions Tour.

Irish show jumper Cian O’Connor has been elected to represent the world’s show jumpers on the Jumping Committee of the FEI, equestrian sport’s world governing body, it was announced this week.

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.

Local boy Billy Twomey delighted the capacity crowd at Millstreet International Horse Show yesterday when winning the €50,000 grand prix.

The largest known private collection of memorabilia charting the bloody history of the North is being offered free to a good home.

Days after another stunning success and days before the Irish squad for the World Equestrian Games (WEG) is announced, it’s a case of what will be will be for eventer Aoife Clark.

Sarah Ennis was "in shock" yesterday after achieving the biggest win of her career at Chatsworth Horse Trials in England.

Ireland’s show jumpers joined the Netherlands, Germany, the US, Belgium and Portugal in failing to make the second round of the five-star Promotional League Nations Cup at Gijon, Spain, on Saturday.

The site where two people were killed in a rally accident on Sunday was not included in safety checks as officials believed it did not pose any danger.

IT should come as no surprise that plans for Ireland’s nations cup participation are to be revised following ShowjumpingIreland’s re-negotiation last week of its financial input.

A CAMPAIGN to heighten road safety is being launched at the Limerick Institute of Technology.

THE public will have the chance to decide Ireland’s best international rider for 2005 with the Showjumpers’ Club initiating a text voting system.

IF you wanted to know the truth about show jumping, Millstreet Horse Show was the place to be last weekend. The best of sport combined with the legendary Green Glens spirit for another memorable weekend.