Ireland hope to repeat last year’s nations cup success in Florida

Ireland has two show jumping teams in action this weekend for the first of this year’s nations cup fixtures. Michael Blake takes charge of affairs for the five-star meeting in Ocala, Florida, while Taylor Vard will be overseeing matters at Abu Dhabi’s five-star contest in the UAE.

Both events are qualifiers in this year’s Longines FEI Nations Cup championship, but they are outside Ireland’s European qualifying division, which doesn’t spark into life for another couple of months. Ireland’s qualifiers start in April and will take place in Slovakia, France, Sweden, Great Britain and at Dublin Horse Show.

There is plenty to play for this weekend though, as the Longines sponsorship has upped the nations cup prize money considerably, so it is all the more worthwhile for countries not chasing qualifying points to be in the mix.