Equestrian - Irish Show Jumping squad named for Barcelona's Nations Cup World Final

Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping team manager Robert Splaine has announced the squad that will represent Ireland in the Nations Cup World Final at Barcelona in Spain, which begins next Thursday (September 22nd). The final takes place at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona which was the venue for Equestrian events at the 1992 Olympic Games. Splaine will name his four team members from the five riders listed below next Wednesday.

The Irish squad in alphabetical order is:

Shane Breen with Golden Hawk (Owned by P. Sultan & Breen Equestrian)

Greg Broderick with MHS Going Global (ISH) (Owned by Lee Kruger & Greg Broderick)

Anthony Condon with Aristio (Owned by John Hales & Anthony Condon)

Darragh Kenny with Go Easy De Muze (Owned by Jos Lansink & F.H. Schuttert)

Denis Lynch with All Star (Owned by Thomas Straumann & Denis Lynch)

The Irish team qualified for the prestigious World Final due their strong performance in the European top level league during 2016. This included a win at St Gallen in Switzerland and a runner-up finish at their home Nations Cup – the Aga Khan in Dublin.

The format for the Nations Cup final is different to most Nations Cup’s as the scores from the first round on Thursday do not carry forward to the second round. Instead the top eight teams after round one on Thursday go through to the €1.5 million final on Saturday with each of the eight qualifying teams starting on zero faults. The teams who do not qualify for Saturday’s final will compete in the €300,000 consolation competition on Friday.

Speaking after his selection, Robert Splaine said:

“Due to the outstanding results achieved by our riders at this years FEI Furusiyya league qualifiers, Ireland is guaranteed a place in next years top league. All combinations for the final have excellent results from this year and we are looking forward to Barcelona.”