Burke remains upbeat about taking a medal at World Equestrian Games

IRISH show jumper Marie Burke was upbeat last night ahead of the penultimate round of the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Aachen, Germany, today.

One of just 25 riders to make it through, she is bidding to replace Co Down rider Dermott Lennon as world champion when the best four after today go into tomorrow’s final round.

Burke has only knocked one fence this week in three outings with her mount Chippison, and that came only after the stallion faltered when losing a shoe in competition. The performance has left her lying in 10th place in a tight scoring contest and, while she has reason to be confident, last night she felt it would be imprudent to look beyond today’s contest and dare to dream.

“It would be lovely to win a medal, but there’s a lot of jumping to get out of the way yet and I’m taking each day as it comes. Today will again be a true championship course and it will be a test of fitness for the horse, but he’s jumping very well. I’m only a fence off a bronze medal, but, by the same token, I’m only a fence ahead of the rider in 20th place, so anything can happen.

“One fence down could make a big difference, but Dermott told me he had a fence down on the Saturday when he won the gold in 2002, so, you never know,” said the Clare woman, who agreed it was disappointing the team had finished sixth on Thursday night, missing the target of a top five placing to secure Beijing Olympic qualification.

Burke said she was always confident Chippison could handle the challenge.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to expose him to this, as I always knew he had it in him. He has only made one mistake, when he lost a shoe on Wednesday and slipped into the combination. He was some horse to finish with only one fence down, as it was very wet. He slipped all the way home and it shows the quality in him.

“He likes the ring and, hopefully, he has enough in him to go further. I rode him today and there’s no sign of tenseness,” said Burke, who only made the team when Cian O’Connor was withdrawn on Monday after his horse Waterford Crystal was injured in practice. American Beezie Madden (Authentic) leads the individual standings on zero, with Burke on 5.71.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s sole carriage driving representative Barry Capstick overturned yesterday at the first obstacle of the marathon. The 49-year-old was taken to hospital with a suspected fracture of the leg, but he was discharged later when it was found not to be the case. Capstick was eliminated from the competition. None of his four horses were seriously injured.