Team gold medalists for Ireland at the 2017 FEI European Championships.
On Wednesday, September 27, 2017, Ireland’s Chef d’Equipe Rodrigo Pessoa named the team of riders for the Longines FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final, which starts on Thursday, September 28th at the Real Club de Polo in Barcelona, Spain. Anchor rider Cian O’Connor will miss out on the festivities, after his leading mount, the 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion Good Luck (Canturo x Furioso II) was withdrawn.
“After all combinations jumped in today’s warm up class, Cian felt his mount ‘Good Luck’ was not feeling his best and looks like he may have pulled something in his shoulder, so we have decided not to take any risk with such a special horse,” said Pessoa. “He will go for further examination and hope for a speedy recovery.”
The Irish team for the Barcelona Final is as follows:
Wexford’s Bertram Allen with Molly Malone V – owned by Ballywalter Farms
Tipperary’s Shane Breen with Laith – owned by Team Z7
Tipperary’s Denis Lynch with All Star 5 – owned by Thomas Straumann & Denis Lynch
Cork’s Shane Sweetnam with Chaqui Z – owned by Spy Coast Farm LLC & Shane Sweetnam.
The newly-crowned European Champions qualified for the event with a top position in this year’s European Division 1 Nations Cup series, which concluded at last month’s Dublin Horse Show.
Ireland is seventh in the order of go, with 15 teams taking part.
The competition starts on Thursday at 8:30pm EST. The top eight teams from the opening round will proceed to the final on Saturday. The remaining seven will compete in the Challenge Cup Final on Friday. The competition can be viewed live on FEI TV.