St. Gallen, Switzerland—June 3 

Irish Chef d’Equipe Robert Splaine had extra reason to celebrate his birthday today when his team pulled out the win in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup at CSIO5* St. Gallen.

In front of podium (from left) Irish Ambassador to Switzerland H.E. Breifne O’Reilly, Regierungsrat St Gallen Benedikt Würth, FEI President Ingmar De Vos, Saudi Arabian Chargè d’Affaires to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Farouk Mohamad Wazeer Ali, Longines Vice President and Head of International Marketing Juan-Carlos Capelli, President CSIO St Gallen Nayla Stössel and CSIO St Gallen Event Director Urs Schiendorfer. Photo by FEI/Katja Stuppia

“A win at St. Gallen historically doesn’t come with an easy tag on it. It has always been a top show and a tough show run by great people, but it’s not for the fainthearted. My guys were great, and the team spirit is fantastic,” said Splaine.

Heavy rains played a part in the final standings, but three members of the team turned in fault-free second-round efforts to finish on their first-round score of 8 faults. Greg Broderick couldn’t have asked for a better day, producing one of four double-clear performances with MHS Going Global. Denis Lynch on All Star, Bertram Allen on Molly Malone, and Cian O’Connor on Good Luck rounded out the team.

“My horses is a Nations Cup specialist, and he was in great form here. Everything was right,” said Broderick.

Sweden, France, the USA and Germany shared second place by finishing with 12 faults on the board, while the hosts lined up sixth ahead of last year’s series champions from Belgium in seventh and the Czech Republic in eighth and last place.

A Testing Track

Swiss course designer Gerard Lachat set a strong 12-fence track that only six horse-and-rider combinations managed to leave intact first time out. The impressive German contingent held the lead on a 4-fault tally at the halfway stage, but the Americans, the Irish and the Swiss were in hot pursuit, just a fence behind.

The Swedes and the Swiss were a man down second time out, when both Rolf-Goran Bengtsson (Unita ASK) and Martin Fuchs (Clooney) were disqualified by the ground jury after leaving the arena in Round 1.

Plenty of tall verticals, an open water measuring 4.1 meters wide, and a difficult penultimate oxer where the front plank regularly hit the floor ensured plenty to think about, and there were multiple errors at the fence that followed the water as well as at the next water-tray oxer at fence 6. The Longines triple combination at fence 7 proved relatively trouble-free until Ireland’s Bertram Allen got into a muddle there with Molly Malone, who couldn’t find her stride after landing over the first element, slicing through the oxer in the middle before stopping at the third element.

Typically stoic, the 20-year-old rider just brought the mare back to get it perfectly right at his second attempt, and in Round 2 he made it all look very elementary. “It was just one of those things,” Allen said afterwards.

Stood Their Ground

Lynch and All Star had a pole down in each round, but second-line rider Broderick went double clear with MHS Going Global, and Allen and Molly Malone were foot-perfect at their second attempt. Anchor O’Connor and Good Luck needed to do likewise to keep the pressure on the leading Germans. Good Luck had lowered the second element of the double at fence 10 in Round 1, but this time around there would be no mistake, and that left last-man-in, Germany’s Hans-Dieter Dreher, really feeling the heat with Cool And Easy.

His teammates, Ludger Beerbaum (Casello) and Janne Friederike Meyer (Goja), both collected 4 faults at their second attempts, so even though Marcus Ehning had soared effortlessly around the course for his second clear of the day with Pret a Tout, Dreher could not afford a mistake if he was to clinch it for his country. So when the second fence fell, he held up his hand and retired. The deal was done. It would be an Irish victory, the first in 13 years, and for Robert Splaine’s men there was a whole lot hanging in the balance.

The Irish teammates were all battling for a sole individual qualifying spot for this summer’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games. “There was a lot of pressure due to the announcement of that spot for Rio next week, but these guys are all top professionals, and they could take it!” said Splaine.

He said he felt quietly confident of victory today.

“It doesn’t surprise me. We expected a good result with these great riders, although you have to keep your feet on the ground; this sport is tough, and you can be up or down in a heartbeat!” he added.

A Solid Finish
For the U.S. contingent, Lauren Hough and Ohlala lead the way, putting in a double-clear performance. After a rail in the first round Lucy Davis and Barron left all the poles in place at their second attempt. Margie Engle’s Royce lowered two fences in the first round and kicked out the oxer at fence 8 in the next round. Todd Minikus had an unlucky rail with Babalou 41 in the first round, and then fell victim to the penultimate white oxer his next go, with a thunderstorm crashing overhead. As a result they had to add one of those 4-fault rounds to join Sweden and France on a final tally of 12.

“It went great today. It’s almost every week where we have the same reaction to how the day went,” said U.S. Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland. “We were up against strong teams. This is now our sixth Nations Cup of the year since Ocala, [Fla.] which is more Nations Cups than anyone else here. We have been on a streak that is working out pretty well; we have kept the streak alive, and we are pretty happy. Lauren [Hough’s] double-clean round was fantastic.”

Hough was thrilled with her talented partner, saying, “Ohlala jumped amazing today. It was difficult conditions, more towards the second half of the day, but she felt very, very good in the first round and even better in the second round.”

Lauren Hough and Ohlala. Photo by FEI/Katja Stuppia

Results:
 
1.    Ireland 8 faults: All Star (Denis Lynch) 4/4, MHS Going Global (Greg Broderick) 0/0, Molly Malone (Bertram Allen) 10/0, Good Luck (Cian O’Connor) 4/0.
2.    USA 12 faults: Ohlala (Lauren Hough) 0/0, Barron (Lucy Davis) 4/0, Royce (Margie Engle) 8/4, Babalou (Todd Minikus) 4/4.
2.    Germany 12 faults: Casello (Ludger Bierbaum) 4/4, Goja (Janne Friederike Meyer) 12/4, Pret a Tout (Marcus Ehning) 0/0, Cool and Easy (Hans-Dieter Dreher) 0/Ret.
2.     Sweden 12 faults: H&M All In (Peder Fredricson) 0/0, H&M Cue Channa (Malin Baryard-Johnsson) 4/0, Unita ASK (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Disq/Disq, Bonzai (Helena Persson) 8/0.
2.    France 12 faults: Saxo de la Cour (Cedric Angor) 4/0, Cannavaro (Fabrice Dumartin) 12/0, Kiamon (Timothee Anciaume) 4/4, Quod Coeur de la Loge (Roger Yves Bost) 4/0.
6.    Switzerland 20 faults: Clooney (Martin Fuchs) Disq/Disq, Bianca (Steve Guerdat) 4/4, Lord Pepsi (Paul Estermann) 4/4, Quorida de Treho (Romain Duguet) 0/4.
7.    Belgium 28 faults: H&M Zilverstar T (Nicola Philippaerts) 4/4, Caracas (Jos Verlooy) 4/0, Sea Coast Pebbles Z (Gudrun Patteet) 12/27, H&M Cabrio van de Heffinck (Olivier Philippaerts) 8/8.
8.    Czech Republic 38 faults: Caleri ll (Suzana Zelinkova) 8/5, Classic (Anna Kellnerova) 4/4, Charly Brown (Emma Augier de Moussac) 8/9, Acovaro (Ales Opatrny) 16/Ret.

Full Results