Babington is upbeat
Speaking yesterday as he travelled to the Mecca of Irish showjumping, the Carrick-on-Suir rider said that, as demonstrated by recent nations cup wins in Germany and Switzerland, the team are in top form and will be justifiably confident.
âWe have a strong team, that are going really well at the moment. On paper, we have a good chance, as long as everything goes to plan. We all have enough experience to go into the competition confident, without being cocky,â said the Tipperary rider.
Babington, who produced the only double clear to win the King George V Gold Cup with Carling King at Hickstead recently, is joined on the team by Corkmen Robert Splaine (Coolcorron Cool Diamond) and Billy Twomey (Luidam) and Cian O'Connor (Waterford Crystal). Tipperary show jumping legend Tommy Wade will bring all his experience to bear as chef dâequipe.
Ireland, with 36.5 points, are just 0.5 points behind France in the Samsung Super League and Babington, who commutes from his Pennsylvania base every summer for the nations cup series, says the Gallic threat will be most evident.
âWe have two goals, the main one, obviously, being to win. But if we can sneak ahead of the French, it would be great,â he said.
Ireland finished joint second with the French at Hickstead a fortnight ago.
Thre British were surprise winners jumping to third on the leaderboard on 26 points.
While Babington said the British can never be discounted, he said the course was not the toughest at Hickstead, nullifying the advantage of the stronger teams.
He said type of course built at Dublin would greatly affect the outcome: âA very hard course would definitely suit us. We have big-jumping horses and would prefer a difficult track. Hickstead was a nice course, but it was not the hardest we had met,â he said.
With just two rounds remaining after Dublin - Rotterdam (August 28-31) and Barcelona (September 19-21), where double points are on offer - a nail-biting climax is on the cards for the inaugural Samsung Super League.
