Young guns shine in Nations Cup success
Ireland's Shane Carey. Photo: Matt Browne/Sportsfile
For the third year in a row Ireland’s showjumping team won the Nations Cup at Drammen in Norway, with both 17-year-old Max Wachman and 20-year-old Harry Allen making their mark.
Allen was the show-stealer when double-clear with Guinness, and on his Nations Cup debut Wachman had two down with Dorette in the opening round before going clear second time out.
The young guns were joined by 2020 Irish National Champions Captain Geoff Curran on Glengarra Wood and former Irish Army Equitation School rider Shane Carey who has been based in Denmark for many years.
Carey and Skorphults Baloutendro were clear first time out and didn’t need to jump a second round when Ireland’s two-round total of just four faults left them well clear of France, Australia and Belgium who shared runner-up spot when all finished with eight on the board.
At home the three-day RDS National Championships came to a close yesterday with victory for Jason Foley in the 8/9-Year-Old Championship when posting the only double-clear with D’Amour de Nenuphar.
There were six through to the jump-off and Mikey Pender was nine seconds quicker with MHS Cardenta but had to settle for runner-up spot with a fence down while Eddie Moloney and Temple Alice lined up in third.
Pender won the Flexible 5-Year-Old Championship with HHS Tokyo, beating Sophie Richards and Newmarket Patriot by just over a second, while Greg Broderick and Go Lightly finished third.
In the battle for the Cruising 6-Year-Old title, Vincent Byrne reigned supreme with CBI Bella Donna, beating Shane Goggins and CBI Karhari into second in the four-horse jump-off with Jason Higgins third.
Kevin Gallagher topped the 7-Year-Olds with Noel Cawley’s Emerald Mystique pinning Darren Hopkins and Empoli de Champloue into second while Jason Foley, whose little brother Ruben won Saturday’s 128cms Pony title with The Silver Legend, was third with MHS I’m the One.
