EQUESTRIAN: Ireland's assault on the show jumping medals at the World Equestrian Games got off to an encouraging start in Spain yesterday, with Peter Charles and Kevin Babington less than a fence off overnight leader, Switzerland's Markus Fuchs.
Those individual placings also put Ireland fifth going into today's team decider, just two fences away from the gold, with the French holding the advantage over a tightly bunched trio of Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.
Irish chef d'equipe Tommy Wade makes no secret of his dislike of the championship formula, which opens with a one-round speed class that counts towards both the team and individual placings going into the Nations Cup style two-rounder.
"It doesn't suit our horses," Wade said before the class, although both Dermott Lennon's ride Liscalgot and Cian O'Connor's Waterford Crystal are fast and accurate against the clock. But, against the odds, it was Peter Charles and his double Hickstead Derby-winner Corrada who came out best, opening the Irish account with a superb clear that left him 10th in the 97-horse field.
And Babington, still nursing an injury after dislocating his shoulder a week after Kerrygold Dublin last month, also gave it his all with the Clover Hill gelding Carling King, slotting in immediately behind Charles in 11th.
O'Connor looked like producing another of the perfect rounds with Waterford Crystal that last month earned him the leading rider title in the Samsung Nations Cup series. But the bay snatched at the bit as O'Connor tried to steady him on the way from the water down to the short double two from home and, ending up too close to the second element, the gelding kicked that out for a five-second penalty.
An unadorned time would have left O'Connor 14th in the individual standings, but the addition meant a slide down to 34th.
Lennon and Liscalgot set off with a mission, but things didn't go quite according to plan and the mare took out the troublesome middle element of the combination. Slightly faster than O'Connor, Lennon goes through to today's two-rounder in 26th.
The French have a 3.47 penalty advantage over Germany. France have already claimed the team titles in both the three-day event and endurance, plus individual gold in the vaulting, but the Germans are always a threat and are bidding for a three-in-a-row win at these world games.
The Germans also have their tails up after taking team and individual gold in the dressage and, only yesterday, it was announced their bid to stage the 2006 World Games in Aachen had been successful.
