There were no wins for Irish riders at the weekend’s two-five star shows in mainland Europe but Cian O’Connor and Denis Lynch recorded top six placings in Sunday’s feature classes at Geneva and La Coruna respectively.
Tipperary native Lynch was in action at the Spanish venue where, riding Thomas Straumann’s All Star 5, he placed fourth in the Longines FEI World Cup competition where eight combinations progressed to the jump-off round. The Irish rider posted the slowest of the double clears (45.77) as Australia’s Edwina Alexander-Tops took the first prize of €108,900 when home in 40.08 with the Dutch Warmblood mare California.
Shane Breen, who placed 12th in this 1.60m class with Laith, finished fourth in the morning’s 1.45m two-phase competition on Ipswich van de Wolfsakker which he also partnered into sixth spot in Friday’s 1.50m jump-off class.
After round seven (of 13) of the Longines FEI western European league, Lynch now has 37 points, sharing fourth place with Mark McAuley who was among the Irish competing at Geneva over the weekend.
Riding Vivaldi du Theil, the Co Louth-born rider finished fourth in Saturday’s 1.45m speed and handiness competition while, earlier in the day, Co Mayo’s Michael G. Duffy partnered Lapuccino 2 into sixth position in the 1.55m jump-off class.
Five riders got through to the second round of the Rolex 1.60m Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon with Cian O’Connor last to go against the clock on Chansonette Farm’s Fibonacci 17. As the other four had jumped clear, O’Connor had to go for the time from the start but, unfortunately, the 12-year-old grey gelding lowered the vertical at three to pick up four faults. The class was won by the USA’s Kent Farrington on the 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Gazelle.
O’Connor, who will be competing at this week’s traditional Christmas show at London’s Olympia, was among those who publicly commented on weekend reports of the resignation in October of Horse Sport Ireland’s show jumping high performance committee chairman Gerry Mullins and the fact that team chef d’equipe Rodrigo Pessoa was considering his position.
The news was broken in Saturday’s edition of The Irish Field with Judith Faherty quoting Mullins as stating: “It is a very toxic situation. In my mind, somebody has orchestrated this. Something very good is happening in Irish equestrian sport and many teams abroad are trying to copy HSI High Performance. We have a strong group of people. I was forced into making a decision to resign because I felt the possibility of us being able to continue the good work was going to be lessened by unnecessary interference.”
From his base in Connecticut, Pessoa, who guided the Irish team to win team gold and an individual bronze medal at the European championships in Gothenburg in August, is quoted as saying: “I must say I am very unhappy, that’s a fact. There had been some problems internally with Gerry, with Horse Sport Ireland, some power fights which led to the resignation of Gerry, which was maybe jumping the gun a little but maybe he thought it was the right thing to do at the time.
“Since then there has been talks about many things and they seemed to be coming well but at the board meeting the other day, it came as a big surprise that they didn’t support him.
“I am very disappointed. Part of why I took this job, when they presented the job, was because the High Performance committee were people I wanted to work with. We got on very well, we worked very well together, and we made things happen.”
At a meeting of the board of HSI last Tuesday, Edward Doyle was appointed interim chairman of the high performance committee. On Monday, a spokesperson for HSI said that a meeting of the high performance committee is to take place on Wednesday (December 13th) at which the matter will be further discussed. Hopefully then, the full details of the reasons for Mullins’s departure will be made known.
During this Christmas period when so many people and groups seek donations, the Irish show jumping community in Wellington, Florida has launched a fund-raising drive for Co Sligo groom Elaine O’Halloran who survived a car crash on November 25th in which two others died.
The 24-year-old from Strandhill had reconstructive spinal surgery which was successful but currently has paralysis from the waist down. Elaine will need to undergo extensive rehabilitation therapy for the foreseeable future and, due to her diagnosis, will have to remain in the local area to receive this treatment.
