Ireland Sixth in Swiss Nations Cup

The Irish quartet of Shane Sweetnam, Jessica Kurten, Cian O'Connor and Billy Twomey finished sixth of eight teams at the FEI Nations' Cup in St. Gallen, Switzerland this afternoon (Friday).

A difficult Superleague course saw many top horses pick up uncharacteristic penalties, one being last week's Global Champions Tour winner, Lord de Theize, ridden by France's Olivier Guillon, incurring a surprising 20 faults on their first round.

Ireland opened with Shane Sweetnam and Amaretto Darco on four faults, but the Corkman dropped two poles on his second attempt to finish the two rounds on 12 faults.

Antrim's Jessica Kurten on her new horse Voss has two jumping mistakes and a time penalty first time out, but staged a remarkable recovery in the second round to record Ireland's only zero score.

Meath's Cian O'Connor lost a shoe in the first round with Blue Loyd, with the mishap costing him eight faults, but came back with a four fault round after the break.

Cork's Billy Twomey had one mistake in the first round with Je t'Aime Flamenco, but a disappointing 12 faults in the second round.

The competition was won by a talented Netherlands team on just seven team penalties.

Team Ireland Equestrian's show jumping manager Robert Splaine said after the competition: "It was an extremely difficult course today with many horses faring badly, but though Ireland has now more in the way of numbers we still do not have enough proven combinations at this level.

"Jessica Kurten's clear round on her new horse was very promising, and Cian O'Connor, who is getting to know Blue Loyd a lot better, pulled a shoe in the first round just before having his first fence down and this unsettled them, but he came back with just four faults in the second round.

"Many riders got caught out on the the treble combination, which, coming so late on the course proved a very difficult line to negotiate.

"Overall, though, it was good to see an improvement."