Ireland’s showjumping team of Darragh Kenny, Shane Sweetnam, Cian O'Connor and Kevin Babington finished third in the Nations Cup at Wellington in Florida on Friday night.
Fifth to jump of nine nations competing after the first round, an uncharacteristic four faults from opener Darragh Kenny and Imothep failed to match first-round clears from the home team's Todd Minikus and Canada's Tiffany Foster, and when Irish number two Shane Sweetnam and Chaqui Z collected eight faults, Irish confidence started to waver.
Cian O'Connor then posted four faults on Quidam's Cherie, while anchorman Kevin Babington and Shorapur also collected four penalties.
However, Ireland fought back with two clear rounds from Sweetnam and O'Connor, leaving a final total of 16 penalty points after Kenny had the drop score of eight faults and Babington again collected four. This was enough to secure third place behind winners USA and runners-up Canada.
