EQUESTRIAN: The Irish show jumping team finished equal second in last night's Nations' Cup in Wellington, Florida. The narrow winners, on a score of 15 faults, were Olympic silver medallists Canada with Ireland and Britain just one point adrift and the host nation fourth on 20.
Kevin Babington with Souvenir and Shane Sweetnam on Amaretto d’Arco produced clear rounds first time out but both collected four faults in the Cup’s second round. Darragh Kerins on Night Train dropped a single pole in both rounds, while Richie Moloney (Triviant) was the discard score with 12 faults in the first round and did not jump in the second.
Irish team manager Robert Splaine, on hand to assess the four US-based riders for later in the year, said the quartet “produced a truly excellent result against some top opposition”.