The Irish Eventing team have finished in third place on the podium, following the conclusion of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup at Millstreet International Horse Trials in Co Cork.
Millstreet was used as a trial for the new Olympic Eventing format, which allows for substitutions of riders during the competition.
Ireland’s hopes of a victory on home soil were hampered by the withdrawal of Clare Abbott’s horse Euro Prince before the Dressage phase due to injury, meaning they were awarded a score of 100 penalties.
Ireland added just 4.8 time penalties to their total in Saturday’s Cross Country along with 20 penalties for a substitution when James O'Haire riding China Doll came in for Abbott.
The final Show Jumping phase saw Sarah Ennis and Woodcourt Garrison jump clear, while Austin O’Connor and Kilpatrick Knighthad one fence down and O’Haire with China Doll finished with 8 faults.
This left Ireland in third on a total score of 203 penalties, with victory going to France on 114.0 ahead of Britain in second on 123.9.
A second Irish team of Brian Morrison, Padraig Flanagan, Patrick Byrne and Emily Jane Corbett finished fourth but were not eligible for points, while USA finished fifth.
Irish Eventing team manager Sally Corscadden was particularly pleased with her team’s performance in the Cross Country phase and at getting the chance to trial the new format and said, "We definitely tested out the new Olympic format with the injury to Clare Abbott’s horse on Friday which gave her a Dressage score of 100 penalties.
"This was too big of a handicap to claw back over the rest of the competition but that’s horses for you. The team were very good on Saturday in the Cross Country adding just 4.8 time penalties."
"They also jumped well today in the final Show Jumping phase. We tried out some nice young horses over the weekend. Millstreet as always ran a fantastic show and the Cross Country course was very influential. Certainly it was a huge advantage trying out the new Olympic system in competition."
