'Derry Boys' help secure third successive Nations Cup as 'Thunderbirds are Go' in Langley

The depth in Irish show jumping is astounding right now and while the past few weeks’ results have been excellent, they soared further again this week, with the Underwriting Exchange Irish show jumping team securing a third victory in succession at the four-star show in Langley.

This occurred after a completely different set of riders just missed out on a podium at the five-star Nations Cup in St Gallen on Friday, with chef d’equipe, Michael Blake hopping on a plane on Saturday to swap Switzerland for the Thunderbird Show Park outside Vancouver.

Denis Lynch, Trevor Breen, Jason Foley and Mikey Pender wore the famous green jackets on Friday but it was the all-Ulster team dubbed all week at Thunderbird as ‘Three Coyles and a Swail’ that was selected to represent the country in Canada late last night (Sunday).

Conor Swail doubled up as coach for the day and aggregated just four faults from his two rounds, while the man he brought to America, Daniel Coyle - leading rider at this venue for the second consecutive week - delivered a stunning clear in the first round but didn’t need to return, as his older brother, Jordan produced a tremendous double clear.

The team was completed by the Derry brothers’ cousin Christian. Daniel’s first official coach was making his Nations Cup debut and went around with just four faults on each occasion, the latter effort proving enough to cement another victory ahead of the host team, eight faults to twelve.

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This all occurred after Shane Breen landed a five-star prize, Daniel Coyle won twice at four-star level, while Swail and Ciaran Nallon also delivered at that grade.

Meanwhile, Thomas Ryan was triumphant in two three-star classes and there was lots of strong placed form too as well as some two-star triumphs. This was also on the week that the youth programme illustrated the prospects of the next generation, with the pony riders winning the Nations Cup in Zuidwolde and the Juniors finishing third.

In Langley, Ireland were drawn first but Swail proved the perfect pathfinder with a clear round on My Lady Lavista, the 11-year-old old mare he has been riding for a year for Cherokee Show Horses. Jordan Coyle followed up in style with Elan Farm’s imposing Chaccolino making short work of the 1.55m course.

Christian Coyle capitalised on his long-awaited first opportunity to represent his country, guiding Extravaganza Semilly, owned by Alexis Bodo, to just four faults. Thanks to a flawless round from his ‘little cousin’ Daniel, the highest-ranked athlete in the world competing in the competition at 14, and Ariel Grange’s Farrel, the oldest participating horse at 15 who remarkably was part of the 2019-winning team, that was able to be the discard.

Jordan Coyle and Chaccolino on the way to jumping a double clear for Ireland (Photos: @tbird/Kim Gaudry Photography)

That had Ireland on zero faults at the half-way point. Mexico were just one jumping mistake behind, with Canada back in eight but as the former fell away, the hometown heroes ramped up the pressure.

But this was a very experienced Irish team and after Swail and My Lady Lavista dropped an early poll, they upped the revs in case time would be a factor and still navigated the rest of the course cleanly. Ali Ramsay went clear for Canada to ramp up the pressure but a completely unflustered Jordan Coyle and Chaccolino cantered around the arena as if out for a Sunday stroll to register their second blemish-free outing of the day.

Extravaganza Semilly had four faults early but Christian Coyle did a brilliant job of getting the mare around without adding to that tally, and that was to prove critical, as with Mario Deslauriers unable to go clear, Ireland’s victory was assured and Daniel Coyle and Farrel did not need to emerge from the pocket.

With the competition not being held last year, that represented a third triumph in succession for Ireland.

After the airing of Amhrán na bhFiann, the celebrations quickly got under way and Clare man Blake had to show an impressive burst of speed off the podium to avoid a champagne drowning. The mood was understandably jubilant.

“I could say I chose them because they’re the only ones here, but actually I chose them because they’re all very good,” Blake said afterwards. “Conor and Daniel have been on every winning team here, which have been quite a few. We’ve won the last three runnings and a few before that. So this, to be honest, is one of our favourite shows. The people here in Thunderbird, the Tidballs and Chris (Pack) and Shauna (Adamson), they are so good to us.

“I asked Jordan to come here and I said, ‘Come here today and show me what you can do.’ And it was flawless, it was perfect ... Christian, it’s his first time to get a run out and to be on a winning team first time out, he did two very good rounds.”

Daniel Coyle and Ariel Grange's Incredible won a pair of four-star classes in Langley during the week, leading to the Paris Olympian earning Leading Rider honours at Thunderbird for the second week in succession (Photos: @tbird/Kim Gaudry Photography)

Daniel Coyle reflected on a perfect ending to a dream fortnight, and a week in which he had secured two individual four-star successes.

“I’ve had a great two weeks here,” the Olympian agreed. “I’ve been leading rider both weeks. I have two horses here that are in great form and this was also a big part of it. We wanted to win today with my brother and cousin on the team. Conor’s been my mentor and best man for years now so it’s nice we can all win together. Farrel hasn’t jumped a Nations Cup in six years so it’s pretty impressive for him to come back to this level (after serious injury).”

Swail was very pleased with My Lady Lavista, making her team competition bow.

“She’s one of the horses that are on the top of my string and I felt it was a good fit for her,” Swail declared. “She’s had a lot of good results lately and it was a good time to step her up and try and compete for Ireland. I thought she did that very well.

“The first round was a bit scrappier and the second round was smoother but the first round was the better result. At the end of the day it’s about getting the team result and thankfully it was good enough today for us to win again.”

A beaming Christian Coyle was attempting to soak it all in, grateful for the chance to be involved and to have a ride of the calibre of the 11-year-old Extravaganza Semilly.

“I was just delighted to get an opportunity and I must thank Michael for that,” Christian said. “[Extravaganza Semilly] jumped a good first round and I maybe overrode the combination a little. I was confident going in that I could jump a clear round and I had an early rail and then she dug deep to stay on four so I was delighted.”

Jordan had been competing in Devon before making a late dash to Thunderbird.

“I was sixth in the Grand Prix and then I came here on Saturday, jumped yesterday and the horse jumped great today so I can’t ask for more. The hardest thing was getting on the plane. The rest is quite easy. This horse jumped ten days ago in Old Salem, he jumped yesterday, so he had enough jumping and I had enough people around me to keep everything rolling. All I had to do was show up.”

“I don’t think anybody ever knew that [the four of us on a team] would happen because there’s no such thing,” Daniel concluded. “We all dreamed that it would happen. It’s pretty cool that it did.”

READ NEXT: Derry's Daniel Coyle and fit-again Farrel fire on the double

The Ardmore native had won twice on Farrel when bagging leading rider honours the previous week at Thunderbird and he backed up by completing a double with Incredible prior to the Nations Cup heroics.

On Wednesday, they won the four-star 1.50m Welcome Qualifier at the British Columbia venue. Second to go in the competition, Coyle and the 12-year-old gelding blitzed to a clear in 63.10 seconds. It was a standard that survived 25 assaults.

“Incredible is hard sometimes to go fast on because he’s a bit of a slower mover and a slower jumper compared to [my other horses],” Coyle said. “I know from the second to third jump, most people did seven [strides] there, and I did six. I knew if I did [leave strides out], I wouldn’t be far away.”

The same day, Swail also scored at four-star level. Indeed, the Down native registered a personal 1-2 with Casturano seeing off Clonterm Obolensky. The experienced Darragh Cross man was first and last of the 19 participants into the ring and his time of 70.02 as the pathfinder was quite brilliant.

It survived allcomers until he returned with Casturano at the very end, and armed with new information and a very quick horse, they sliced more than two and a half seconds off the long-standing mark to win in 67.48.

On Friday, Coyle and Incredible topped a five-horse jump-off in the 1.55m four-star Grand Prix, just ahead of Swail with Casturano. Laois native, James Chawke and Daido Van’t Ruytershof Z were fifth. The previous day, Chawke and Daido had been just a half-second off victory in the four-star jump-off competition, denied by a career-best performance by Corinna Z, who was steered to glory by ecstatic Canadian, Kara Chad.

Coyle and Ariel Grange’s son of Clinton have put together a hugely impressive 43% clear round rate at 1.50m or higher in 54 starts since joining forces a year and a half ago, and they maintained that level of accuracy, quickly enough, to deny Swail.

In Saturday’s feature, Swail and Clonterm Obolensky were runners-up for the second time, finding only McKayla Langmeier (USA) and Chadina too strong in the 1.50m jump-off.