Coyle and Wachman bag another Irish Dublin double
Jordan claims feature for second five-star in 24 hours as Tom offers Aga Khan omen with Hawaii
Jordan Coyle is the hottest show jumper on the planet right now and after turning Spruce Meadows into his own personal playground in recent months, the Derry man is threatening to dominate the Dublin Horse Show in similar fashion.
The Derry-born world No 35 won today’s feature, the 1.60m Cashel Palace Hotel Stakes with Chaccolino, and completed another Irish five-star double at the RDS, as Tom Wachman secured the gold medal in the Anglesea Speed Stakes with Hawaii.
The latter triumph served as a real confidence booster to Wachman, who makes his Aga Khan Trophy debut in the Main Arena tomorrow.
Indeed, there could be a significant omen in his success, as the last five-star speed class he won with Hawaii in La Baule, served as an appetiser to the Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping Team’s Nations Cup triumph that week.
Coyle will be able to put his feet up and watch the Green Jackets bid to secure a first Aga Khan victory since 2022, satisfied that not alone has he qualified Chaccolino for the lucrative Rolex Grand Prix, but did so with an exclamation point this afternoon.
The Ardmore athlete had been a mite irritated by his fifth behind Wachman, when For Gold was ultra-fast but had a rail down. That memory was dispensed to the recesses of his mind just a couple of hours later, however.
The €56,800 competition attracted the cream of the human and equine crop and the jump-off certainly whetted the appetite, although Irish Olympians Shane Sweetnam and Darragh Kenny were left cursing themselves as they drifted marginally over the allowed time allowed of 74 seconds while jumping clear.
Sweetnam and Coriaan Van Klapscheut Z were just 0.33 seconds on the wrong side when incurring their one fault, while Kenny and Eddy Blue, who finished seventh at the European Championships and contributed handsomely to Ireland’s fourth in the team event, were almost a second too slow. That left them in seventh and eighth positions respectively.
A high-class sextet managed to leave all the fences intact inside the time, ensuring there was plenty for the Irish supporters to get excited about, even with Trevor Breen deciding to hold fire with Highland President.
Former Irish chef d’equipe, Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) was first to go with Major Tom and he registered a safe clear in 41.18.
Coyle and Chaccolino were next and they sliced almost four seconds off Pessoa’s time to record 37.19, while jumping clear, and place huge pressure on the remainder.
Cian O’Connor and Iron Man had looked very good first time around but in bidding to go through the gears, they had two fences down to end in fourth. Mexico’s Carlos Hank Guerreiro also had eight faults with H5 Origi Horta but slower, to complete the top five.
It was left to McLain Ward to attempt to prevent the raising of the Tricolour and the American, who had a show to remember 12 months ago, had a good stab at it. Imperial HBF was one of only three horses to register a double clear but the time of 38.56 slotted the Stars and Stripes duo into the runner-up position.
“I had one down with For Gold, he just touched it a bit,” said Coyle as he reflected on his mood heading into the main event. “He hasn’t had the rub of the green yet this week but he has a few more classes left.
“When you come to the show, the Grand Prix is the main reason that most people are here. We have qualified now, which was the aim, and we will try and focus on that, but we got everything today.
“Chaccolino is a very good horse and he takes it all in his stride, so going fast, I don’t think upsets him and I wouldn’t be worried about Sunday having to do that. Today, the first three jumps were fast but the rest was actually very normal.
“I was worried about McLain, to be fair. He’s always a bad one to be coming after you but he hasn’t had that horse that long and the horse isn’t naturally that fast so it will take him a little while to get him revved up.
“The amount of clear rounds Chaccolino is jumping at the minute is unbelievable. So let’s hope it continues.”
Wachman (below) maintained the five-star success of the home athletes in dramatic fashion.
Yesterday’s winners, Coyle and Mikey Pender had thrown the kitchen sink at adding to their tallies. Coyle and For Gold posted the second-fastest time of 68.45 but had that one rail down and with jumping faults translating to a second of time, that left them on 72.45 and eventual fifth.
Pender went even quicker in the 1.45m class on HHS Fortune (ISH), his partner in yesterday’s Minerva Stakes triumph, but they had eight seconds to add to their lightning 67.76 and had to settle for ninth on this occasion.
Wachman and Hawaii were the last of 33 combinations entering the Main Arena. It was Swiss athlete, Bryan Balsiger who held the lead as they made their bid for glory. Denis Lynch and Katja were in front for a couple of minutes, after going clear in 70.10 but Balsiger improved upon that quickly with Fais Toi Belle du Seigneur Pleville, stopping the clock on 69.65.
Wachman had been studying the action as it unfolded however, and the Tipperary native eked out the tiniest margins to score with a time of 69.51.
It was a second five-star success in conjunction with the nine-year-old mare this year and left the Goolds Cross man buoyant as he looked forward to the heaving Ballsbridge venue backing him and his Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping teammates tomorrow.
The 20-year-old may lack experience but he has been exposed to elite Nations Cup competition by Michael Blake in 2025, jumping a crucial clear with Tabasco De Toxandria Z in Round 2 of the Barrière Nations Cup victory at La Baule in June. The duo also performed strongly in Rotterdam and Aachen.
“She’s a super mare,” said Wachman of Coolmore Showjumping’s prodigiously talented chestnut, Hawaii (in action above). “She’s only nine. She’s very fast and competitive. She also had a five-star win in La Baule, so I was delighted to get the win today on home soil. The show here is really special.
“I’m really looking forward to The Aga Khan. I think my horse is in good shape and hopefully the team is good. So I’m just very excited about the whole thing and we’ll keep the head down now and hope all goes well tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Niall Talbot and Fts Elliott were victorious in a field of 87 in a four-star speed class at Sentower Park. Talbot and the 16-year-old stallion he owns in partnership with Nicola Fitzgibbon, had to wait a long time as they were 35th on the list when jumping clear in 64.71.
One by one, the opposition fell by the wayside, however, unable to trump the standard set by the Irish pair.
James Chawke was a three-star winner in Canada with his consistent horse, Daido van ‘t Ruytershof Z last night.
BREEDING
HHS FORTUNE (ISH) – 2011 mare by Catoki (HOLST) out of HHS Daisy (ISH) by ARD VDL Douglas (KWPN). Breeder and owner: Marion Hughes, Co. Kilkenny. Rider: Michael Pender (IRL)
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