It seems almost certain that the Show Jumping Association of Ireland will lose its Sports Council funding for 1998. The deadline imposed on the SJAI by the Equestrian Federation of Ireland to get its 1997 accounts in order expires today and failure to meet the deadline means the £53,000 grant will be forfeit.

But, although there was a preliminary meeting last month between the Association's auditors Deloitte & Touche, independent adviser Conor Crowley and SJAI director general Tony Kelly in a bid to have the auditors' qualification removed from the 1997 figures, there have been no further meetings and sources suggest that all attempts to save the 1998 funding have been abandoned.

The money earmarked for the SJAI was part of the £200,000 given to equestrian sport by the Sports Council this year, but chairman John Treacy stated that no funding would be given unless queries over its 1997 accounts were resolved. Losing the Sports Council money is only a minor part of the financial chaos within the SJAI, however. Figures for 1998 are expected to be even more disturbing than those for last year and sources within the Association admitted last week that the SJAI is "virtually bankrupt". Even the one bright spot on Ireland's showjumping horizon in the shape of Co Armagh rider Trevor Coyle faded slightly at the Olympia showjumping championships in London last night when the stallion Cruising stopped in an otherwise faultless round in the feature event.

With two wins already in the bag from the current World Cup series at Millstreet and Geneva, the 40-yearold from Portadown holds the lead in the western European league. Last night's hiccup was hopefully only a momentary blip and Coyle will be bidding to add to his points tally in tomorrow afternoon's round.

The early pace was set by Britain's John Whitaker on the 18-year-old veteran Virtual Village Welham but they had to give way to the German Ludger Beerbaum on the French bred Champion De Lys.