Coyle storms to head of affairs at European Championship, with Irish team poised to strike
Derryman and Legacy lead individual standings in A Coruna, with team in seventh and within a pole of the medals
Ireland’s FEI European Jumping Championship is off to a very satisfactory start as Daniel Coyle and Legacy lead the individual standings and the team sit within striking distance of the medals in A Coruna, Spain.
Derry’s Coyle is sitting pretty at head of affairs in the individual competition, storming to the top of the leaderboard with an incredible round of jumping in a time of 73.93 seconds on his magnificent mare.
Coyle went out fast with his Paris Olympics mount and came home in a lightning-quick time to sit in first position ahead of Richard Vogel and United Touch S in second and Donald Whitaker with Millfield Colette in third.
A delighted Coyle said: “It was great. It’s the first day of the championships, a lot of good riders, lot of simple mistakes from everybody and today seemed to be my day. Richie (Vogel) was also very, very close but it just seemed to go my way.
“I think Legacy’s experience probably was ahead of a lot of horses today. She’s done a few championships already, and she was already really good in Paris (at the Olympics) last year.
“She hadn’t been in great form at the beginning of the year. The plan was to come here with her coming into form and it looks like that’s happening.
“This class, generally somebody really fast wins it but if you’re on a team, you want to get a best score possible and sometimes, you don’t take all the risks. For me, I was able to take all the risk and I ended up winning the class.
“Legacy is a fantastic mare. She’s done lots of championships already and if she tells me to keep going, I will keep going.”
Michael Blake’s team of Denis Lynch, Seamus Hughes Kennedy, Bertram Allen and Darragh Kenny lie in seventh of 18 nations jumping in the team event on a score of 8.39 and are primed for an assault on the medals with two rounds of jumping to come.
The Irish are arguably unlucky to not be a lot closer to leaders Britain as a couple of unfortunate poles down proved costly on the day, but Horse Sport Ireland High Performance Show Jumping Manager Blake was ultimately pleased with the day’s work.
“We’re thereabouts,” Blake said. “I probably would have preferred to be a little closer to the leaders but we are within one pole of the medals and there is a lot of jumping still left to come.
“We got off to a great start with Denis and Seamie coming home clear and I suppose I’d have hoped for one more clear but it was a tricky track. A fair track, but there were dangers in certain areas and a lot of riders got caught out in places.
“I’m looking forward to the next couple of days, because I think we will improve on our position and can definitely climb the leaderboard tomorrow to get within a crack at a medal.”
Britain lead the competition on a score of 3.96 with Germany second on 4.19 and Belgium third on 4.61, less than one pole down ahead of the Irish.
Lynch got Blake’s team off to the best possible start with a flawless round of jumping in a time of 78.58 seconds on board Vistogrand.
That left the Tipperary man on a score of 2.32, in 20th place individually and, importantly from a team perspective, got the ball rolling with Hughes Kennedy next into the arena.
One of world show jumping’s brightest talents, Hughes Kennedy and ESI Rocky (ISH) have been in sparkling form of late and they delivered another brilliant round, leaving all poles standing and coming home in a time of 78.26 and an individual rank of 18th with a score of 2.16.
Bertram Allen and his nine-year-old Qonquest De Rigo were Ireland’s third combination to jump and they jumped well on the whole, coming home with one pole down in a time of 80.21 for a total of 84.21 and a discard score of 5.14 to lie in 49th position individually.
Despite the clears from Lynch and Hughes Kennedy, there was a sense of pressure around Kenny’s round with Eddy Blue as a clear round would leave Ireland right among the leaders after day one.
Like Allen and Qonquest De Rigo, they came home with one pole down in 77.76 seconds and a total of 81.76 for a score of 3.91 to place 37th overall.
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