Irish Eventing Squad Named for World Equestrian Games

Austin O'Connor and Ringwood Mississippi at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry. Austin O'Connor and Ringwood Mississippi at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.

The announcements for the 2014 World Equestrian Games squads are starting to roll out, with Horse Sport Ireland announcing its eventing team this morning. The Irish squad in alphabetical order is:

  • Clare Abbott riding Cormac Mackay’s Euro Prince (ISH)
  • Aoife Clark riding PJ Hegarty’s Fenyas Elegance (ISH) (or Henrietta Duchess of Bedford & Jacqueline Norris’s Vaguely North as a direct reserve horse)
  • Sarah Ennis riding Tom McGuinness, Nicky Potterton and the late Orla Ennis’s Stellor Rebound (ISH)
  • Joseph Murphy riding Noel Good, Jill Andrews, A. O’Callaghan and Michelle Nelson’s Electric Cruise (ISH)
  • Austin O’Connor riding Kate Jarvey’s Ringwood Mississippi (ISH) and
  • Sam Watson riding Tom MacGuinness, John and Julia Watson’s Horseware Bushman (ISH).

The reserve list is as follows in alphabetical order:

  • Joseph Murphy riding Jill Murphy, Alison Schmutz and Andrew Tinkler’s Sportsfield Othello (ISH);
  • Jim Newsam riding his own Magennis (ISH)
  • Michael Ryan riding Carol & Tom Henry and Sheila Foley’s Ballylynch Adventure (ISH)
  • Camilla Spiers riding Bridget Speirs and her own Portersize Just A Jiff (ISH)

Clare Abbott and Euro Prince earned their ticket to WEG by being one of the few pairs to jump clear around the massive Badminton track this year. Aoife Clark is coming off a win in the Bramham CCI3* with Fenyas Elegance, who also won the Blenheim CCI3* last fall but has yet to contest a CCI4*. Stellor Rebound has also never competed in a CCI4* and is coming off a third-place finish in the Tattersalls CCI3* and a win in the Chatsworth CIC3* earlier this year with Sarah Ennis.

Electric Cruise was eighth at Pau last fall with Joseph Murphy in the irons and has had a light spring campaign with WEG in mind, most recently finishing sixth in the CIC3* at Tattersalls. Ringwood Mississippi was another of the lucky few to jump clear around cross country at Badminton, which sealed the deal for his WEG bid for Austin O’Connor. And Sam Watson will ride his 2010 WEG partner Horseware Bushman, who also competed at the European Championships for Ireland last year and was most recently 15th in the CIC3* at Tattersalls.

Note that every single horse named to both the main squad and the reserve list is an Irish Sport Horse — that’s a fitting squad for Team Ireland! Best of luck to the Irish squad at WEG.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments