A winning World Cup final debut was snatched away from Trevor Coyle by a positively anorexic margin yesterday as the Co Armagh rider and his wonderful stallion, Cruising, fought to the bitter end only to be frustrated by the might of world champion and Cup holder Rodrigo Pessoa.
Coyle's second place is the best ever Irish performance in the 21 runnings of the World Cup, with Eddie Macken's third at the inaugural event 20 years ago the previous target to aim at. But to come so close to victory and, at the finish, to be denied by a run-out caused by being too hungry for the win was almost too much for Coyle to bear in Gothenburg yesterday.
The 40-year-old, who rode the Hartwell Stud sire Cruising to eighth place in the world championships last autumn and was seventh 12 months earlier in the European equivalent, had fine-tuned his preparations for the outing to Sweden with a win in the Dortmund Grand Prix a fortnight ago and then made a superb start in the Cup itself by slotting into sixth on the opening night.
With his competitive instinct at boiling point 24 hours later, Coyle swept Cruising round a sharp turn into the second fence against the clock on Friday night and the stallion opted for the easy route out the side door. That momentary abberation was what, ultimately, cost them the Cup yesterday.
Even with that mistake, Coyle had moved up from sixth to overnight second going into yesterday's tworound decider, but Rodrigo Pessoa still held the trump card as last man in. Coyle piled the pressure on his Brazilian rival by leaving all the fences standing, even at the expense of half a time fault, and the tactics worked brilliantly as Pessoa and the hot-headed Gandini Baloubet de Rouet hit the upright at nine to bring Coyle within a point of that coveted top spot.
Germany's Ludger Beerbaum, who had switched to Priamos for the final leg after the mare Ratina lost form on Friday night, was level-pegging with Coyle on five penalties as the fences, already huge in the first round, were upped another notch for the final test.
Britain's Michael Whitaker and Virtual Village Ashley were clear once again to clinch the class honours, fractionally ahead of German Rene Tebbel, whose second-round tally of a quarter for time boosted him well up the placings. Beerbaum crashed out with three down, but Coyle and Cruising were simply magnificent, repeating their first-round performance to leave the Irish stallion as the only horse to complete the entire Cup without touching a fence.
But even that achievement wasn't enough for victory and, when defending champions Pessoa and Baloubet were clear at their second attempt, the Cup was returned to the Brazilian's mantlepiece for another 12-month stint, with Coyle kept out of that prestigious winner's enclosure by a mere 1.5 faults.
Coyle, who is temporarily based in Belgium with Francois Mathy, is hoping to sell his Co Armagh home outside Portadown so that he can make a permanent move to the continent and compete at this level throughout the season.
"When you're coming over from Ireland you don't have so many chances, but when you're chasing someone like Rodrigo it's amazing how much courage you get," he said, unable to conceal his disappointment at missing out on the big one. But his determination to switch his World Cup silver for a gold medal at this autumn's European championships is almost tangible and, with a partner of such endless talent as Cruising, that goal is undoubtedly well within his reach.
World Cup Finals - 1, Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, 4 faults; 2, Ireland's Trevor Coyle, 5.5; 3, Germany's Rene Tebbel, 8.25; 4, Switzerland's Beat Mandli, 11.5; 5, Britain's Michael Whitaker, 15; equal 6, Germany's Ludger Beerbaum, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Switzerland's Lesley McNaught, 17; 14, Ireland's Peter Charles, 25.
