Dublin, Ireland—Aug. 7  

The main arena of the Royal Dublin Society showgrounds in Ireland’s capital city was electric with excitement on Aug. 7 when the Irish team won the eighth and last leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Europe Division 1 League on their own hallowed turf.

The Irish team of (from left) Greg Broderick, Darragh Kenny, Chef d’Equipe Robert Splaine, Bertram Allen and Cian O’Connor celebrated their win in the prestigious Aga Khan Cup, the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup of Dublin.
Photo by Trevor Meeks

As they raised the Aga Khan Cup in triumph—one of the most coveted trophies in the sport—they brought a broad smile to the face of Irish President, His Excellency Michael D. Higgins, and the crowd went wild with delight. 

Bertram Allen, Greg Broderick, Cian O’Connor, Darragh Kenny and Chef d’Equipe Robert Splaine delivered Ireland’s 23rd victory in the 89-year history of the great event that always draws huge numbers of spectators. But this was possibly one of the most emphatic of all time. Because the home side didn’t just win, they trounced the opposition with a performance so strong that anchorman, Kenny, didn’t even have to jump a second time because it was already wrapped up.

“My horse jumped fantastic in the first round and these guys left me with nothing to do,” Kenny said. “Maybe it was just as well, because I could have spoiled everything if I did jump and messed it up!”

Not A Great U.S. Result

The Hermes U.S. Show Jumping Team, which won the Aga Khan last year, did not have as good a day, finishing in eighth. Lead-off rider Charlie Jayne on Valeska had rounds that went from bad to worse as he picked up 20 faults in Round 1 with rails and then was eliminated in Round 2 for falling off when Valeska slammed on the brakes at the water jump.

Charlie Jayne didn’t get the performances he wanted from Valeska, as the drop score for the U.S. team in both rounds. 
Photo by Trevor Meeks

With Jayne as the drop score in each round, Georgina Bloomberg, Lucy Davis and Todd Minikus had a lot of pressure. In Round 1, Bloomberg and Davis were able to put clears on the board to keep the U.S. team in the hunt and tied for fourth with just Minikus’ 8 faults on Babalou 4 to their name.

But in Round 2, no one could keep all the rails up and all three picked up 8 faults, dropping the U.S. team to the bottom of the results.

Lucy Davis and Barron turned in a clean trip in Round 1, but 8 faults in Round 2, for the U.S. team.
Photo by Trevor Meeks

Establishing Their Lead 

The Irish had established their supremacy by the halfway stage when they were the only ones on a 0 score, and once out in front they didn’t flinch. The Netherlands finished second ahead of the Swiss who managed to survive the elimination of Olympic champion Steve Guerdat on a day when several horses decided they really didn’t want to take on Alan Wade’s course for a second time.

Lying second-last at the halfway point, Germany bounced back to line up fourth ahead of Spain in fifth, while the British had a disappointing afternoon when having to settle for sixth. The Italians rallied with three clear rounds second time out to finish seventh, but the biggest surprise of the day was the last-place finish for the 2014 Dublin winners from the USA. 

There was another big surprise when today’s competition revealed which countries have qualified from Europe Division 1 for the Furusiyya Final in Barcelona, Spain in September. The top seven nations—Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden—have made the cut, but Germany lies in eighth place on the final league leaderboard and will miss out along with Italy. Spain has finished last, but will compete as hosts on their home ground.

Demanded Accuracy

Wade’s track demanded accuracy from riders and commitment from horses, and fences fell all around the course. Allen was the first man out and left the vertical at fence 8 on the floor with the 17-year-old stallion Romanov, but that was Ireland’s only mistake in the first round.

The 20-year-old Bertram Allen and Romanov delivered a crucial clear round in Round 2 of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup of Dublin to help their Irish team earn an emphatic victory.
Photo by FEI/Tony Parkes

Broderick’s MHS Going Global and O’Connor’s Good Luck are two very talented 9-year-olds and both gave jumping exhibitions, while Kenny’s 12-year-old gelding, Sans Soucis Z, also breezed home effortlessly. And when Allen got it all just right second time out and then Broderick’s gelding produced more spectacular jumping, a single error from O’Connor’s stallion was still good enough for the win. 

“I’ve produced him since he was a young horse and we know each other well,” Broderick said. “I wondered if he would cope with the atmosphere in the ring there today but I just sat quiet and let him get on with his job, and he did it great!”

Greg Broderick has made a breakthrough onto the international scene with MHS Going Global and turned in two clean rounds to help the Irish to Nations Cup victory.
Photo by FEI/Tony Parkes

Wout-Jan van der Schans secured runner-up spot for the Dutch when he and Broderick were the only two to post double-clears on the day. This meant the Netherlands could drop the 18 collected by Johnny Pals when his stallion decided he didn’t want to make the roll-back to the vertical at fence 6, although he eventually agreed to do it after making quite a fuss.

This was exactly the same spot that brought Guerdat’s second round to an end with Corbinian, the sight of the arena exit in the distance perhaps looking a lot more inviting than the prospect of another 11 big jumping efforts.

Buoyant

The mood in the Irish camp was buoyant, because a place at the Furusiyya Final and in the premier league of international team jumping was hanging in the balance today. And Chef d’Equipe Robert Splaine now knows he has a rock-solid squad as he heads to the FEI European Championships Aachen, where Ireland will be hoping to claim one of the last remaining qualification spots for the Rio 2106 Olympic Games in 12 days’ time. 

“The build-up was phenomenal,” said Broderick who made his debut at the revered Dublin venue today, “and I felt like I didn’t want to let anyone down.” A long-time star on his national circuit and a recent visitor to California shows in the winter season, the 29-year-old rider made his Nations Cup debut with MHS Going Global less than a year ago at the Europe Division 2 leg in Arezzo, Italy and the pair have been hugely impressive every since.

London 2012 Olympic bronze medallst Cian O’Connor was competing in his 100th Nations Cup. “My horse jumped fantastic and it was a privilege to compete with such a great team of guys” he said this evening, while Bertram Allen, who now holds the number five position on the Longines world rankings, admitted that it was a very special feeling to have contributed to today’s result.

The 20-year-old has enjoyed phenomenal success over the past 12 months competing as an individual, and was part of the Irish team that just missed out on Olympic qualification at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy where he placed individually seventh. “But I’ve never enjoyed success like this at senior team level and it’s a great feeling to be part of it,” he said. 

Chef d’Equipe Splaine said, “I’m very proud of the four them, they really pulled together and they were in a class of their own today.”

Todd Minilus and Babalou 41 had two 8-fault rounds for the U.S. team’s eighth-placed finish.
Photo by Trevor Meeks

Result:

1.    Ireland 4 faults: Romanov (Bertram Allen) 4/0, MHS Going Global (Greg Broderick) 0/0, Good Luck (Cian O’Connor) 0/4, Sans Soucis Z (Darragh Kenny) 0/DNS. 

2.    Netherlands 8 faults: Quinlan (Vincent Voorn) 0/4, Vignet (Johnny Pals) 4/18, Willink (Henk van de Pol) 4/0, Aquila SFN (Wout-Jan van der Schans) 0/0.

3.    Switzerland 13 faults: LB Eagle Eye (Christina Liebherr) 0/1, Corbinian (Steve Guerdat) 4/Elim, Copain du Perchet CH (Edwin Smits) 4/4, Windsor XV (Niklaus Rutschi) Ret/0.

4.    Germany 16 faults:  Conthendrix (Andre Thieme) 4/4, Brooklyn 17 (Mario Stevens) 4/0, Lacan 2 (Patrick Stuhlmeyer) 4/4, Embassy ll (Hans-Dieter Dreher) 4/0.

5.    Spain 17 faults: Gribouille du Lys (Pilar Lucrecia Cordon) 4/4, Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margot (Eduardo Alvarez Aznar) 0/4, Belcanto X (Alberto Marquez Galobardes) 12/9, G & C Quitador Rochelais (Sergio Alvarez Moya) 4/1.  

6.    Great Britain 23 faults: Hello M’Lady (Scott Brash) 0/4, Catwalk (Robert Whitaker) 0/9, Wonder Why (Spencer Roe) 20/16, Cassionato (Michael Whitaker) 5/5.

7.    Italy 24 faults:  Admara 2 (Emanuele Gaudiano) 4/0, Gitano v Berkenbroeck (Juan Carlos Garcia) 12/4, Geisha van Orshof (Lorenze de Luca) 12/0, Casallo Z (Piergiorgio Bucci) 8/0. 

8.    USA 32 faults:  Valeska (Charlie Jayne) 20/Elim, Lilli (Georgina Bloomberg) 0/8, Barron (Lucy Davis) 0/8, Babalou 41 (Todd Minikus) 8/8.