O’Connor lays down early marker for Olympic place

Cian O’Connor laid down an early marker in his bid to represent Ireland at the Olympics with a double clear in the US nations cup on Friday night.

His clean sheet helped Ireland to second place in the $75,000 Florida contest, with the Irish total of eight faults separating them from Germany by a single error, the winner’s four-fault total coming through a zero score in round two.

Meath-based O’Connor sourced the impressive Blue Loyd in November, the gelding’s talent, however, being offset by a tendency to be headstrong.