Pessoa happy with favourites tag

The Irish show jumping team’s competitive season gets underway in earnest this weekend with a nations cup fixture in Slovakia.

It is the first of five such outings for the team, the last of which will be the Aga Khan contest at Dublin Horse Show in August.

The nations cup run will be followed by the world championships in Tryon, USA in September, and yesterday Ireland’s team manager Rodrigo Pessoa spoke to the Irish Examiner of the new confidence that prevails following last year’s gold medal performance at the European Championships in Sweden.