HORSE SPORT IRELAND: SPLAINE CONFIRMS RIDERS FOR FIRST TWO NATIONS' CUPS

Source: News Release/Colin McClelland

SPLAINE CONFIRMS RIDERS FOR FIRST TWO NATIONS' CUPS

ROBERT Splaine, Team Ireland Equestrian's Show Jumping High Performance Manager, has confirmed his squad of riders for the first of the 2012 Superleague Nations' Cups, and also his team for the initial competition in the four-star Nations' Cup Series.

Splaine's selection for the Superleague Nations' Cup at La Baule, France, on May 11, is, in alphabetical order:
Jessica Kurten
Denis Lynch
Cian O’Connor
Shane Sweetnam
Niall Talbot

The Team Manager will choose his team of four before the Nations' Cup.

For Lummen in Belgium on May 4, the first of the non-superleague four-star Nations' Cups, Splaine has selected, in alphabetical order, the following team:
Shane Breen
Alexander Butler
Edward Doyle
Dermott Lennon

Horses for both competitions will be announced shortly.

Today Robert Splaine said: "We are back into a challenging year of Nations' Cups, and while of course my priority has to be the selection of two horse and rider combinations to fill our individual Olympic slots in London, we are also one of the top eight teams in the world, and we will be hoping to acquit ourselves well in the Superleague once again.

"We had a great start last year, and I would like to get some early points on the board at La Baule," he said.

"Lummen has traditionally been a good testing ground for combinations, and I will be looking closely at the team there and at other four-star Nations' Cups, with the hope of moving some combinations up to the Superleague as the year progresses," he added.

The FEI Nations' Cups Superleague features the world's top eight teams competing at eight European venues, with the final competition in the series this year being the Aga Khan Cup at the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show on August 17. Ireland finished fourth in the 2011 series.