Finishing on a zero score, Ireland came out clear winners of the opening leg of the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ 2022 series at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates today where the hosts finished a close second when putting just four faults on the board and Great Britain lined up in third on a total of 17.
There were two spots at the 2022 series Final in Barcelona, Spain up for grabs in this sole qualifier for teams from the Middle East region, and that second place result easily secured one of those for the impressive home side while the fifth-place finishers from Saudi Arabia took the other. Team Jordan just missed out by a two-fault margin when lining up in sixth place.
Following the withdrawal of Egypt a total of seven countries competed in this opening leg of the season in which the three-man side from Syria disappeared from the reckoning at the end of the first round when Ahmad Saber Hamcho (Verone de la Roque) retired.
The Irish were in flying form all week, brothers Shane and Trevor Breen winning the 5* and 2* Grand Prix classes respectively. With first-round clears from Jack Ryan (BBS McGregor), David Simpson (Foudre F) and Trevor Breen (Highland President) they were already in front at the halfway stage today, And when Ryan and Simpson completed double-clears and Shane Breen (Z7 Ipswich) kept a clean sheet this time out then the side led by Chef d’Equipe Michael Blake stood top of the podium.
The 10-leg Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ 2022 series now moves on to Coapexpan, Mexico for the first qualifier in the North/Central America & Caribbean region in March.
Full results here