Ireland in Seventh place at Euro Championships after Cross Country

In a day of mixed luck for the Irish squad at the European Eventing Championships in Malmo, Sweden, the team dropped just one place in the leaderboard despite the elimination of its leading rider, Joseph Murphy.

Mullingar-born Murphy and Electric Cruise, who were the best of the Irish combinations after yesterday's dressage phase, had a run-out on today's (Saturday) cross country course at Fence 27, and during their recovery took the wrong course to the next obstacle, earning an automatic elimination.

Team rider Austin O'Connor and Ringwood Mississippi opened the day with 37.20 faults on the challenging cross country track, while Sarah Ennis and Sugar Brown Babe picked up 16.40 faults. Sam Watson with Horseware Bushman, however, came home with just 0.40 time faults to end the day as the leading Irish team rider.

Ireland finished the day in seventh place, after holding a sixth position following dressage yesterday.

In the individuals, Jim Newsam and Magennis had 13.20 cross country penalties, but Clare Abbott, making her championship debut with Euro Prince, had a completely clear round to finish on her dressage score of 59.00.

Germany continues to dominate the championships, with Sweden in second place overnight and France third.

The final show jumping phase takes place on Sunday.