Watson the best of Irish eventing team in Malmo

Sam Watson proved best of the Irish at the European Eventing Championships in Malmo, Sweden, placing 21st, as the team finished seventh of 10 countries.

The Carlow rider made up for a moderate dressage performance when jumping clear with Horseware Bushman in Saturday’s cross-country at a cost of just 0.4 time penalties. He followed this with four faults in yesterday’s show jumping for a completion score of 56.60pens.

The team effort was hit by the elimination of Joseph Murphy (Electric Cruise). Best of the Irish foursome after dressage, they had a run-out on the cross-country and during recovery Murphy took the wrong course to the next obstacle.

Twenty-one faults in yesterday’s show jumping saw Sarah Ennis (Sugar Brown Babe) fall to 39th on 84.20pens, while Austin O’Connor (Ringwood Mississippi) ended in 41st place on 93.60pens.

It was notable that Ireland’s individual riders, Clare Abbott with Euro Prince and Jim Newsam on Magennis — both making their championship debuts — finished 29th and 32nd, respectively.

Michael Jung (Halunke FBW) retained his individual gold, while also leading the German team to first place ahead of Sweden and France.

Jung had already set a new record when he became the first rider to hold Olympic, World and European Championship titles simultaneously, and yesterday he set another standard by becoming the first rider to win four individual gold medals in succession.

At the World Driving Championships in Slovakia, Ireland’s Barry Capstick was taken to hospital with a suspected leg injury following a tip-up in a water obstacle. Capstick, who was subsequently discharged from hospital, was in second place at the time.

In the US, Ireland’s Richie Moloney produced the only double clear to win the $40,000 Longines Cup, following up with second place in yesterday’s World Cup qualifier.

Moloney’s victory came in a three-way jump-off and, when Catherine Pasmore and Zaragosa four-faulted in 41.01secs, the Kilkenny man opted for a measured round with Carrabis Z that saw him cross the finish line fault free in 43.86secs.

Tyrone’s Ronan McGuigan followed with four faults to place third.

Carrabis Z is a 10-year-old Dutch warmblood stallion Moloney has been riding over a year.

“I have to work a bit to keep him together, so I was glad to go a bit slower and just try to keep the jumps up. He was third in this class last year, so he’s improving,” said the 31-year-old, whose second place yesterday came aboard Slievanorra.

McGuigan, who has been based in the States for 12 years, dividing his time between New Jersey and Florida, had the time beaten, only for Capall Zidane to barely touch a pole.

“I wasn’t happy to have four faults, but when I get home to my daughter, Zara, it won’t matter,” said 39-year-old Omagh native McGuigan, who is returning home this week with wife Lisa to christen their new baby.

In Gijon, Spain, Ireland manager Robert Splaine saw his team finish fifth in a high-scoring Division Two nations cup.

“It was an extremely tough competition, where most of the top nations were represented. This is a time of the year that I’m planning ahead and being here helped me to achieve that,” said the Corkman.

Ireland were among six of the 10 teams that returned for the second round, with the US and France among those going out.

Captain Michael Kelly and Annestown proved the best of Splaine’s quartet with four faults in each round. Denis Lynch matched this in terms of fences lowered with All Inclusive NRW, but added a time fault in each round. The competition will have proven beneficial for tyro Bertram Allen as he moves into the senior ranks, the Wexford rider scoring eight faults first time out on Romanov, improving in the second round with four faults. Shane Breen provided the discard in round one, when putting up 17 faults with Zarnita, and the Tipperary rider retired in round two, as the team ended on 30 faults.

The competition yielded just two double clears, both from Britain — Louise Saywell (Hello Winner) and Robert Whitaker (Catwalk lV) — but it was not enough to secure victory, the team’s 12 faults proving two more than the Dutch tally.

Belgium were third on 23 faults, with the Italians’ 27 faults keeping alive their hopes of a place in this month’s Furusiyya Division One final in Barcelona.

Allen, meanwhile, continued to add to his impressive tally this year, proving best in yesterday’s grand prix qualifier on Molly Malone.