Young guns deliver in Drammen

By Frank Mulvihill

28. June 08: Ireland team manager Robert Splaine showed his commitment to developing young talent by giving David Simpson and Anthony Condon their senior team debut opportunity at the Norway Grand Prix Show in Drammen, while another, Mark Flynn, competed there as an individual.

Condon delivered a clear round and four faults, while Simpson came home with just four faults in each round. Meanwhile, Flynn took seventh place in the 1.35m Opening class and sixth in the Rica Hotles 1.40m class on Highlander.

Ireland finished fourth in the cup, one fence behind third-placed Sweden. The Dutch won the team competition after Henk Van De Pol (Rhodus) had fractions of a second to spare over Denmark's Charlotte Lund (Andante) in a jump-off after both teams finished tied on four faults.

Potential

Sunday's Grand Prix also saw the young guns show their potential. A tight time meant errors were plentiful and just one clear round was recorded. That was by Norway's Tony Andre Hansen and Camiro 19.

Simpson took the runner's-up spot in this 1.60m class on Cruise With Me with one time fault. Condon was close behind with five faults on Goldex, and Flynn had two fences down on Ballinclover Boy.

At Norden-Hardenberg in Germany, Denis Lynch and Nabab's Son took a second in the Winning Round. Thomas Ryan was fourth on Urleven van de Helle.

Pony team third

Ireland's pony team took joint third position at the CSIOP in Aach, Germany, last weekend.

Team Manager Ian Fearon has been giving as much international experience as possible to a large squad of riders since last year's European championships in order to maximise the team's chances of medal success this year.

The team of Emily Turkington (Future Interest), Jordan Coyle (Frere Jacques), Vincent Byrne (Fortview Master) and Jessica Burke (Bean Alaining) finished on eight faults, tied with France. Britain and The Netherlands, on four faults each, jumped-off for the gold medal, with the Dutch taking the spoils.

Also in Aach, Emily Turkington finished best of the Irish in the Neuen Privatbank Zurich Pony Grand Prix. Riding her team pony, Future Interest, she took ninth place with four faults in the second round behind winner Frank Schuttert and Golden Eye.