Irish riders have been quick out of the blocks at the five-star Dutch Nations Cup fixture in Rotterdam, with Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and Tipperary’s Shane Breen filling the top two places in today’s 1m55 Dura Vermeer prize.
Breen raced into the lead when drawn 45th to jump with Ispwich van de Wolfsakker – the nine-year-old stallion crossing the line clear in 65.97 seconds.
Cashel-born Breen was denied victory when his team mate Kenny shaved almost half-a-second off the target when fourth-last to go of the 59 starters.
Riding the nine-year-old mare Chanel, who is owned by Kerry Anne LLC, Kenny stopped the clock in 64.39 to take the winners prize of almost €7,000, while Breen collected €5,400 for his runner-up finish.
Dundalk’s Mark McAuley also finished in the prizes, taking seventh place with Miebello in a time of 69.74Kenny and Breen will be joined by Bertram Allen and Cian O’Connor for the Dutch Super League Nations Cup in Rotterdam on Friday, with Rodrigo Pessoa’s team drawn third to jump of eight teams.
Rotterdam is Ireland’s third of six points-scoring rounds in Europe Division 1, with Pessoa hoping for a good result as Ireland bid to qualify for the Nations Cup world final in Barcelona later this year.
Along with Ireland, teams from Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain and the home team from The Netherlands will all be competing for points in Rotterdam.
Current league leaders France will also field a team but this will not be one of their points-scoring rounds.
Following Rotterdam, Ireland’s remaining Super League fixtures will be at Falsterbo (July 14), Hickstead (July 28), and Ireland’s home Nations Cup at the RDS in Dublin (August 11) where teams will compete for the Aga Khan trophy.
