Silver for Ireland at Pony Championships
The Irish quartet of Michael Pender (Doon Laddie), Grace McHugh (Cassandra van het Roelhof), Sean Monaghan (Attyrory Rebel) and Susan Fitzpatrick (Rock Dee Jay) shared the lead with France going into yesterday’s deciding nations cup contest, but had slipped to fourth place after the first round. Three clears in the second round, however, forced Britain and Germany into a jump-off for bronze in favour of the latter, with the French full of panache and so far out of sight in front, they were almost a forgotten entity.
Slattery conceded his team were not at their best in the first round, but said, matter-of-factly, “We had a chat at half-time.
“There were some silly mistakes in the first round, but we were still unlucky to have a fence down here and there, but the kids are very positive, so, as you saw, they went into the second round and they did their job, fair play to them,” said the Galwayman. “I’m delighted for the kids, their parents and their personal trainers. It’s a just reward for all the hard work. Definitely, there was a lot of pressure, you can see the size of the crowd here today. But the home fans got behind us and the riders rose to the occasion.”
The comeback also meant that Fitzpatrick is still on course to retain the individual gold medal she won last year, with McHugh also in the hunt ahead of tomorrow’s deciding grand prix. Both are among eight riders in third place on a total of four faults, with France’s Ninon Castex (Quabar Des Monceaux), second on two faults, while her compatriot Nina Mallevaey (Rominet De Bruz) heads the field as the only rider with a flawless record. The remainder of the gold-medal winning French team — Victoria Tachet (Rexter d’Or) and Thomas Scalabre on the Irish-bred Sligo de Mormal — are among six riders on eight faults.
Ireland went into yesterday’s competition sharing pole position on a zero tally with the French after Thursday’s opening round, and opened with eight faults from Pender, followed by a single error from McHugh. Monaghan had provided the discard on Thursday, and he had a start that drew gasps from the crowd yesterday, when Attyrory Rebel stopped at the first. Monaghan proceeded to knock the fence on his second effort, but showed great determination to close out the round with just one more error. Much hinged on anchor rider Fitzpatrick and, while she had an uncharacteristic four faults, it steadied the ship and kept Ireland in the hunt on 16 faults at the half-way stage.
The amazing French led with a perfect score, with Germany and Britain sharing second on 12 faults.
While it was as you were for France in round two, the only blemish being a single time fault, for Ireland it was all change. Pender was unlucky to knock the penultimate, but there was no such misfortune for McHugh, nor Monaghan — picking up the biggest roar of the day with his first clear — while Fitzpatrick kept a cool head to record another copybook clear to bag silver and leave Britain and Germany to battle it out for third.
Monaghan most epitomised the fighting spirit and positive approach, his broad smile afterwards telling the full story.
“I’m delighted for Sean,” said Slattery, who has steered Ireland to medal success in three of his four years at the helm. “He’s been very good all year and he was just a bit unlucky in the first round, when the pony stopped at the first fence. Something obviously spooked him. These things happen, I mean the pony is young, he’s only eight, so, maybe it was a little bit of inexperience on his part. But he, like the others, came back. They’re absolutely brilliant and I’m delighted for them.”
Slattery has no doubt Fitzpatrick is in with a chance of taking the big prize tomorrow.
“Definitely, Susan is a contender for individual gold, as is Grace. There’s one French rider on zero, another on two faults and eight on four faults and we have two of them. It’s pretty much like last year in Arezzo in Italy. There are still two big rounds to be jumped on Sunday, so it’s not over yet, our two still have a very good chance of winning another medal.”
Slattery acknowledged that the French were a class apart.
“We knew the French would be strong coming here. They showed it on home soil in Fontainebleau and Hagen in Germany. I said they would be hard to beat. They won the gold medal and they deserve it.”
Attention today will focus on eventing, specifically on the new cross-country spread over the 300 acres surrounding Drishane Castle. Created by Olympic course designer Mike Etherington-Smith, it has received unqualified praise, but everyone acknowledges it will play a major part.
In a tight-scoring contest after dressage, the Irish team of Fionn Clarke (Black Velvet Band), Sophie Buller (G Maha), Lucy Hancock (Newtown Westie) and Patrick Dennehy (Rose Down) lie sixth of the eight teams on 147.30 penalties. Just 3.5pens separates leaders France (124.20pens) from Germany, with Italy third on 128.80pens. Clarke likes 10th in the battle for individual honours and, like his teammates, will be aiming to improve today in a phase that is traditionally strong for Ireland.
Meanwhile in yesterday’s Furusiyya Series nations cup in Hickstead, England, Ireland placed equal fourth with Belgium on 12 faults. Darragh Kenny maintained his brilliant form with a double clear on Imothep, while Shane Breen (Golden Hawk) scored 4/8. Bertram Allen and Molly Malone opened on zero, but returned with eight second time out, as Cameron Hanley finished the effort with a clear on Antello Z, having opened with four faults in a competition won by the US on four faults. The performance saw Ireland rise from bottom of the Furusiyya leaderboard to third last, with another good result in Dublin next Friday essential if they are to avoid relegation.
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