Ireland qualify for Longines League of Nations final after sixth-place finish in Rotterdam

The Irish Show Jumping team has qualified for November’s Longines League of Nations final after a sixth-place finish in the third leg of the series in Rotterdam.

On a testing evening in the Netherlands, Ireland scrapped and clawed their way to finish sixth of the world’s top 10 nations, ensuring a place in the showpiece event at Barcelona in November with a leg to spare.

Ireland finished on a total of 21 faults, after Michael Blake’s young guns Tom Wachman and Seamus Hughes Kennedy kept their cool late on to help Ireland climb the table, having been in eighth at one stage deep into the competition.

Wachman and Hughes Kennedy joined Cian O’Connor and Bertram Allen in the team, the same quartet who had delivered five-star Nations Cup in La Baule earlier this month.

After this third leg, Ireland are now second in the overall league table on 225 points, 15 behind leaders France on 240 after their runner-up effort, and five clear of Germany.

The French only gave way in the final round after eight faults from Kevin Staut and Visconti du Telman left them on a score of 13 and handed victory to hosts Netherlands on 10, in the most dramatic of finishes. Britain filled the podium with a final score of 16.

Afterwards, Blake pointed to the positives, saying: “I’m very proud of the lads – Tom and Seamus in particular were exceptional for such young riders – particularly in round two when we were up against it and needed to keep the poles upright.

“They showed exceptional maturity to come home with just time faults, and those performances keep us in second place in the league table, ahead of Germany in third, so that’s a positive. We have also ensured our place in the final in Barcelona with a leg to spare so I’m obviously pleased with that.

“It wasn’t our day today – we made some mistakes that were very costly, especially when you look at what happened at the end out there. That was there to be won today, but that’s jumping and we move on. There are some huge events on the horizon; Aachen, the European Championship in La Coruna and, of course, Dublin. So we’ll be back as good as ever for those.”

Allen and Conquest De Rigo went in as Ireland’s first combination into the Rotterdam arena and the Ballywalter Stables-owned nine-year-old jumped well on the whole, dropping just the plank following the water, and coming home just outside the time allowed for five faults.

Despite being early in the competition, there was a feeling that Wachman and Tabasco De Toxandria Z needed to produce a clear round to slot the Irish in amongst the leaders.

They did just that, leaving all poles standing but coming home a little over the time allowed for two time penalties. It meant that Ireland were within a jumping penalty of the leaders and in striking distance at the midway point of the first round.

Hughes Kennedy and the Ennisnag Stud-bred ESI Rocky came in after the mini break in proceedings with Ireland sitting well on two faults. The pair jumped well to come home within the time for four faults and very much in the hunt in fourth place at that stage.

Hughes Kennedy said: “I was very happy with how he jumped, but I might have put him a small bit too close to the oxer. With the water tray underneath, it’s there to be looked at and if I can come there with a bit more room next time I think he’ll jump it well.

“I’m a bit annoyed with myself for putting him in that position but I thought he jumped really well and I’m very happy with him.”

As the course proved more and more difficult, with just one clear round jumped by the anchor riders before him, O’Connor and Iron Man had three poles down for 12 faults, which would prove to be Ireland’s discard score as the team totalled 11 faults for round one.

That left them in fifth place in the standings, level with USA, as France and hosts Netherlands shared the lead on a score of five penalties with Britain in third on eight.

Of course, such is the format of the Longines League of Nations, only three combinations jump in round two, meaning all scores count and there is no room for error.

Unfortunately for Ireland, Allen and Qonquest De Rigo added eight penalties to Ireland’s total to leave the team on 19 and a mountain to climb with Wachman and Hughes Kennedy to come in round two.

Wachman, just as he was in round one, remained calm under immense pressure as he bid to improve Ireland’s positioning from eighth in the standings. He delivered another clear jumping round with Tabasco De Toxandria Z, coming home with just one time penalty to move his team into sixth.

Hughes Kennedy did the exact same, delivering a clear jumping round with just time fault to keep Ireland in sixth on the day and second in the league table.

BREEDING:

​ESI Rocky (ISH) 2015 gelding by Stakkato Gold (HANN) out of Clonaslea (BWP) by For Pleasure (HANN) Breeder: Ennisnag Stud owned by Clare Hughes ridden by Seamus Hughes-Kennedy.

The Irish Show Jumping team is sponsored by The Underwriting Exchange

Charles Ancona – Official athlete clothing supplier to Horse Sport Ireland’s Senior Olympic programmes

Bucas – official supplier to Horse Sport Ireland’s High Performance programme

The Irish High Performance Show Jumping Programme is exclusively funded by Sport Ireland

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