Dermott Lennon’s plans hampered by transport problems
Unfortunately, that was the last time he rode her until Wednesday at the World Cup show in Madrid, Spain.
Lennon cited flight issues and, while it is not conducive to getting the best out of Judith Sossick’s bay mare, Lennon says he hopes he can take off again and improve on his 23rd place on the Western European League.
“Basically, I haven’t sat on Lou Lou since Toronto. She was held up due to flight problems and only returned to the Netherlands on Sunday. Then she left on Monday for Madrid, and arrived here on Wednesday.
“I just have to deal with the situation. I’m here and I’m gong to do my best. I know her well, though. She has jumped fantastic all year and if we can get another show or two out of her by the end of the year, I’ll be happy,” said Lennon.
The Co Down native was one of only two riders to better the first-round course in Toronto, the other being American superstar McLain Ward. Lennon, though, was first into the arena against the clock and finished with eight faults. Ward never even considered hitting high gear and, in fact, ended up victorious with a single time fault.
Lennon feels the test in Madrid will be similar to Toronto in at least one respect: It will be big.
“There are no easy World Cup courses. It’s a big ring here and nothing short of being at the top of your game will do if you want a result.”
Lennon has form in the World Cup, finishing fifth in 2010 at the final in Geneva, Switzerland, with Hallmark Elite, the pair posting one of only three double clears on the last day. A repeat of his Toronto performance would put him well on his way to earning a place in the final in Gothenburg, Sweden, next March, though the former world champion was in no mood to get ahead of himself yesterday.
“I got good points in Toronto. If the horse was going well and we produce another result this weekend, then, sure, I’d like to make a bid for the final,” he said.
Lennon is joined in the Spanish capital by Denis Lynch, who is aiming to make up for last weekend’s disappointment in the World Cup class in Stuttgart, Germany, where he finished the first round with eight faults on Abbervail van het Dingeshof.
- December 16 - as was revealed in this column last week, has been confirmed as the date for the Cian O’Connor/Horse Sport Ireland appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
CAS informed the Olympic bronze medallist and HSI, as well as the Federation Equestre Internationale of the date on Tuesday, with the hearing to take place in Lausanne, Switzerland.
O’Connor and HSI are appealing after a member of the ground crew ran in front of the Meath-based rider and Good Luck as they approached a fence at the European Championships in Aachen, Germany. They knocked the fence and Ireland missed out on a place in the Olympics by a mere 0.38 penalties.
O’Connor this week gave some insight as to how he and HSI will approach the CAS hearing, telling World of Showjumping: “I am confident that CAS has the power to rectify the Aachen incident, and put right the FEI’s failure to implement their own rules on fair play that state that at all levels, ‘(…) only the best man, woman or team should win fairly and squarely, having competed under even and equitable conditions and under rules that are themselves fair, realistic, and applied with scrupulous competence and even-handedness. No result can be meaningful or valid if it has not [been] achieved on a level playing field’.”
It is obvious that the rule cited by the FEI, Article 233.3, in its findings is not designed to address the Aachen scenario. It, basically, says the clock must be stopped immediately “if the athlete stops voluntarily to signal to the Ground Jury that the obstacle to be jumped is wrongly built or if due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the Athlete, he is prevented from continuing his round under normal circumstances”.
To put it plainly: It legislates for a situation where a rider stops.
There is no mention of what should happen if a rider has to make a split-second decision and continues, but is then punished by incurring faults as a result of a situation not of his/her own making and a situation that no other rider faced.
It’s worth bearing in mind that under the FEI’s Article 233.3.1, if O’Connor had stopped, there was a chance he would have been penalised heavily by the ground jury if they did not accept the “unforeseen circumstances”.
It seems O’Connor was in a no-win situation, one that is unfair and, under the FEI’s Article 200.5, “competitions must be fair for all athletes”.
The FEI is expected at the hearing to refer to CAS precedents in what are termed “field of play” decisions. CAS generally abstains from ruling on such decisions, unless there is an element of “bias, malice, bad faith, arbitrariness or legal error”.
Could the last of these figure in the CAS deliberations, with the FEI rules being deemed deficient, or misinterpreted?
- Cork eventing rider Brian Morrison won gold in dressage at the Student Rider Nations Cup in the Netherlands last weekend, with Darren Coady taking third and Alyssa O’Neill finishing 6th.
The trio also won the overall team dressage competition and came third in the overall combined show jumping and dressage.
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