No joy for Irish in Spain

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.

A tough course resulted in three eliminations for the US and yielded no double-clears from the 13 countries, while providing only six single clear rounds from the starting field of 52 horse/rider combinations.

Billy Twomey and Romanov opened with 15 faults, before Marion Hughes and Heritage HHS Fortune returned one less. Trevor Coyle and Jubilee d’Ouilly racked up 23 faults, while Conor Swail retired with Lansdowne to leave the team on 52 faults and second last.