Superb weekend for Irish showjumpers

Ireland’s show jumpers battled to second place in the world’s richest nations cup on a superb weekend that saw their compatriots pick up medals at the European Junior Eventing Championships and in the pentathlon at the Junior World Championships.

The $300,000 BMO Nations Cup in Spruce Meadows, Canada, proved a hard-fought battle for all bar Germany, with the course designed by Venezuelan Leopoldo Palacios yielding only eight clears from nine countries over the two rounds.

In front of a record crowd of almost 81,000, US-based Corkman Shane Sweetnam and Amaretto D’arco opened with four faults, followed by nine from Jennifer Crooks and SF Uryadi, while Andrew Bourns and Roundthorn Madios ended on five, before Tipperary’s Shane Breen delivered a superb clear with Cos I Can that left the quartet sharing second with Britain on a tally of nine, as Germany took control on a total of four.