Bertram Allen philosophical heading into World Cup finals
It’s appropriate, when you consider this approach took him to Vegas with an ease that earned him huge respect.
It’s also apt when you are aged just 19 and it’s your debut season.
Asked if he thought he and Molly Malone V could give Ireland’s its first World Cup title, he replied in typical laid-back fashion that he just wanted to do his usual thing and, if things went well, he could secure the holy grail. Fortunately, his usual thing includes frequently winning.
“If everything goes perfectly, there would be some chance, but I’m not thinking about it, really. My approach is to do what I normally do, jumping jumps and see where we are at the end of it.
“I’m going to take it a day at a time, but the obvious goal is to make the final on Sunday. If things go well, we should do that.”
He also said he wasn’t bothered by the weight of expectation and he was fortunate to have a triumvirate of sages to advise him.
“I’m not going to get too wound up about anything. I’ll stay relaxed. It’s been dull enough here so far, I can’t wait to get into action.
“My dad Bert is here, along with [Ireland manager] Robert Splaine and Noel Delahunty, so I’ve got the three wise men on my side,” said Allen, ahead of the first round in the early hours of this morning.
Asked if being one of the favourites to win the €1.3m final brought added pressure, he replied nonchalantly: “Ah, not really. There’s 20 that could win it if things went their way. I don’t think about that. We’ll just do our best So much can happen in three days of jumping.”
As for Molly, Allen felt the tight confines of the Thomas & Mack Centre posed no real problem for the mare.
“It’s small, but it’s fine. She’ll be able to deal with it. She’s as good in a big arena and she is in a small one.”
The competition is decided over three days, with a speed class this morning at 3am GMT with seconds added for knockdowns. Competition two at the same time tomorrow morning is one round against the clock, and one jump-off which is also against the clock. Results are then converted into points. These are carried into the third and last competition on Sunday, which is two rounds of jumping over a grand prix course, featuring the top 30 horse-and-rider combinations. Only 20 go through to the second round. The leading rider after the first two competitions goes last, and starts on a zero score. The winner will be crowned about 9.30pm GMT.
- Liam O’Meara had a memorable week, winning the grand prix at the Millstreet Welcome Tour on Saturday with Mr Coolcaum, before claiming the Connolly Red Mills/HSI Spring Tour title when runner-up at Mullingar Equestrian Centre. Though two legs remain — Warrington and the final in Coilog, with points-and-a-half on offer — O’Meara cannot be caught.
The Mullingar leg was a rescheduling from the previous Sunday — which was deferred due to flooding — and it saw O’Meara and Realt Na Carraig denied by young rider Roisin Fagan, who made it a home win with I Kan.
- PJ Hegarty, the owner and breeder of Fenyas Elegance, yesterday said there had been huge interest from riders inside and outside of Ireland in riding his mare.
On Wednesday, as reported in the Irish Examiner, the successful partnership between Fenyas Elegance and Aoife Clark had come to an end.
Yesterday, Hegarty said he was heartened by the number of contacts he had received from top riders.
“We have had an amount of international interest in the mare, predominantly from outside of Ireland. Elegance will be back soon with a new international rider,” said Hegarty, who on Wednesday confirmed the 11-year-old mare was back in Bandon, Co Cork, having been withdrawn from next month’s Badminton Horse Trials.
In a statement, Clark said: “She is an incredible mare and has given me the two biggest wins of my career, at Blenheim and Bramham.
“She is an alpha female, though, and has always found dressage the difficult phase. At three-star level I found a way of making it more comfortable and easier for her, but moving up a level she was finding the intensity of the higher-level work increasingly difficult and I don’t want to put that pressure on her and don’t feel she deserves it.
“I wish PJ the best of luck in the future and huge thanks to him for the opportunity to ride her.”
In response, Hegarty declared: “I’m only a country lad, what would I know about dressage.
“However, a couple of weeks ago, Aoife herself tweeted that she had won a combined training class with Elegance on a 25 dressage score and, in fact, she got a 10 for her final movement. That speaks for itself,” said Hegarty, noting that any suggestion of an issue with the mare’s dressage had not dented interest from the best riders.
With Clark, Fenyas Elegance became a superstar of Irish eventing. As a nine-year-old in 2013, the chestnut won the feature class at Blenheim Castle, with the Kildare native last year achieving another three-star victory in Bramham, then proving best of the Irish at the World Equestrian Games, helping the team to book its ticket to the Rio Olympics.
However, Clark did receive a verbal warning for dangerous riding at WEG and also a few weeks later at Burghley with Vaguely North, the 15-year-old gelding she will compete at Badminton.
- Austin O’Connor is gearing up for next week’s four-star Rolex Kentucky, joining up with Ireland’s second representative Tim Bourke.
Corkman O’Connor saddles up Balham Houdini in an 88-strong field of horses. In 2013, he placed 13th with Ringwood Mississippi.
Virginia-based Westport native Bourke will ride the 10-year-old Luckaun Quality, no doubt hoping to make up for his elimination when falling in what was their four-star debut at the event last year. The OBOS Quality-sired 17.2hh gelding subsequently carried Bourke to victory in a CIC three-star at Maryland Horse Trials last year.
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