Irish show jumpers prop up league
The result came despite second-round clears from Captain Shane Carey on Killossery and Shane Breen on World Cruise, and dampened early hopes of a revival in Irish fortunes.
It is the second time in as many weeks that the team, under chef d’equipe Robert Splaine, finished one from the bottom in the eight-country league and now find themselves on the bottom on two points, 1.5 points behind Sweden.
Corkman Splaine acknowledged the result was a blow, but tried to look on the upside.
“It was, of course, a bitter disappointment and the only positive things were that we improved so much in the second round, and the fact that we have showed again that we can jump clear rounds, which are the essential ingredient at this level. The first round was marred by silly mistakes, and I hope that at Rome (May 26), where we’ll be fielding a new team, we can improve our overall league standing.”
Yesterday’s contest was won by favourites Germany on four faults, giving them a two-in-a-row over title-holders the US. The Americans were just four faults adrift of the home side, with Britain third on 11, four better than Switzerland on 15. Just one fault separated the Swiss from the Swedes, who had a similar margin over 2004 league winners France in the tight-scoring contest. Ireland were next on 21, with only the Netherlands worse, on 29.
Ireland were last of the eight teams at the half-way stage yesterday in what many consider a test run for the World Equestrian Games in the autumn. Breen and World Cruise finished with a creditable four faults, while Carey and Killossery finished on five. Jessica Kurten, riding Castle Forbes Maike, made an inauspicious return to the Irish team by her standards, notching up eight faults. The discard score was provided by Edward Doyle who failed to repeat his La Baule clear and this time finished with nine on Effective.
This left the team on a total of 17, with German dominance reflected by a zero tally.
The second round saw a fight-back with super clears from Breen and Carey. However, another eight faults from Kurten and a four from Doyle was enough to keep the team down the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Briton William Fox-Pitt produced a stunning dressage display on Idalgo yesterday to take a clear lead in the feature three-star class at Punchestown Horse Trials.
A score of 33.5 penalties ensures he takes a lead of 8.7 into today’s cross-country with compatriot Pippa Funnell and Ensign on 42.2.
Irish promise continues in earnest, however, with Lieutenant Geoff Curran in fourth place on 45.2 with his Ballindenisk World Cup runner-up Kilkishen.
Steven Smith and his impressive Quality VH is also well in the running, a score of 48 putting him in fifth.
In the two-star class, Switzerland’s Christian Landolt (MacIntyre) and Britain’s Matthew Wright (Grove Joucas) fill the top two positions.
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