Irish showjumpers in France narrowly miss out in the EEF Nations Cup Semi-Final

In the Longines EEF Nations Cup Semi-Final, in Deauville France, Ireland faced an uphill battle after an unlucky opening round. Jason Foley was the only Irish rider to jump clear in the first round, riding Oscar v/h Hulstenhof, owned by Bruntwood Stables Bvba and Karel Cox Horses BV.

Matt Garrigan, Jenny Rankin and Conor Drain were all unlucky to each have one fence down, leaving Ireland on a team score of 8 going into the second round. At the half-way stage Spain, Sweden, France and Portugal were on a team total of 0 penalties.

Under the direction of HSI Deputy High Performance Director Taylor Vard The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping team rallied.

Garrigan and Quantum Robin V, owned by BWG Stables and Sova Sporthorses got the team off to a strong start jumping clear. Next into the arena for Ireland was Rankin riding Imar, owned by Barry O'Connor and Elizabeth Phillips who also jumped clear.

Following his clear round in the opening round Foley had one pole down in his second round leaving the pressure on Drain to jump clear with Conny Viscaal’s Imagine which is exactly what he did. A lovely clear round left Ireland on a team score of 8 faults.

With only five qualifying spaces for up for grabs, Ireland narrowly missed out on progressing to the Longines EEF Final finishing in sixth place.

Speaking afterwards, Vard said: “We’re all just so disappointed, unfortunately the damage was done in the first round and luck wasn’t on our side. We knew coming out here that we had the ability to qualify, things just didn’t go our way and that’s sport sometimes but it’s tough on the riders.

“We showed great grit and determination to come out and have a team score of 0 in the second round. Although this moved us up the leader board it wasn’t quite enough. The riders made a great comeback and I’m very proud of them for that.

“This is called a development league and that’s exactly what we are doing, we are developing, we have great depth in our squad now and we will continue to build and develop and will come back stronger from this.”