The Irish show jumping team of Richard Howley, Trevor Breen, Alex Duffy and Greg Broderick, finished third in Friday night’s three-star Nations’ Cup in Lisbon, where Portuguese home fans witnessed their team record a memorable victory over their neighbours Spain.
In round one, Sligo’s Richard Howley jumped clear with the Morgan Kent-owned Dolores while Tipperary’s Trevor Breen had one fence down with Escapade H, owned by Gebroeders van Manen. Mayo’s Alex Duffy was the discard score when picking up eight faults with Michal Kazmierczak’s Gerd KG. Tipperary’s Greg Broderick produced a clear with the Mary Ellen Du Ruschi-owned Duco leaving the Taylor Vard-managed Irish team level at that stage with Britain in third, while Portugal and Spain shared the lead on zero.
The second round was jumped under floodlights and saw both Howley and Broderick complete double clear performances, while Breen repeated his four-fault score to leave Ireland on a total of eight faults and in outright third of the 11 teams that started. The home team remained on a zero score to take the win while Spain finished as runners-up on four faults.
The Portuguese team included the Irish Sport Horse Fernhill Curra Quinn which is owned in partnership by his rider, Duarte Seabra, and Kilkenny’s Carol Gee. The 12-year-old Harlequin du Carel gelding was bred in Co Wicklow by Thomas Hannon out of the Clover Hill mare, Ballyveskil Mist.
Ireland are in Nations’ Cup action again on Sunday evening in a five-star competition at Langley in British Columbia. In the $400,000 Longines FEI Jumping Nations’ Cup of Canada, Ireland, the defending champions, will be up against Canada, Mexico, The United States and Israel. Irish development team manager Michael Blake will announce his four team members on Saturday from Jonathan Corrigan, Daniel Coyle, Jordan Coyle, Cormac Hanley and Conor Swail.
Riding his own ISH mare KHS Krooze, a nine-year-old by Kroongraaf, Derry’s Daniel Coyle won Friday’s 1.45m jump-off class and also finished fourth with Ariel Grange’s Legacy while Mayo’s Cormac Hanley finished fifth in the Grand Prix when recording the fastest four-fault round in the jump-off with Alma Z.
