The Irish show jumping team finished seventh of 11 teams taking part in the Abu Dhabi Nations' Cup in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, and will donate their total prize money of €4000 to GOAL for the Haiti Earthquake relief fund.
A clear from Billy Twomey and Je t'Aime Flamenco in the first round left Ireland with eight faults in total after fences down from teammates Dermott Lennon, Cameron Hanley and Cian O'Connor, and this put them in the top six teams who went through to Round Two.
However, Lennon and Hallmark Elite added to their first round tally with three fences down, and Twomey failed to repeat his first round success when accumulating nine faults. Mayo's Cameron Hanley and Southwind VDL rode a careful second round and finished with just one time fault, while Cian O'Connor and Rancorrado'did not jump again after the gelding sustained a minor over-reach in the warm-up arena.
The Nations' Cup was won by Britain on zero faults.
Afterwards Irish Team Manager Robert Splaine said: "It was the first Nations' Cup of the year and while we would have hoped for a better result, it should be taken into account that several of the horses would not yet be fully fit.
"Billy Twomey did well with his clear in the first round and credit must also go to Cameron Hanley for a good performance today. Dermott Lennon's horse is young and on a learning curve, and it was unfortunate that Cian O'Connor's 'Rancorrado' sustained the over-reach in the practice arena, for a good second round from him could have pulled us up the leaderboard. The main thing is that we raised €4000 for the Haiti Relief Fund and that has to be good news."
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