Daniel Coyle scoops another five-star win in landmark week

With seven Green Jackets among the top 35 athletes in the Longines FEI world rankings, it stands to reason that the Irish would be well represented at the prestigious five-star show in Geneva.

Ardmore's Daniel Coyle lodged a prized victory on Friday, while Cian O’Connor posted three podiums and Tim Brennan cleaned up in the U25 category.

And the week concluded with Shane Sweetnam scooping a cool €250,000 for finishing second in the Rolex Grand Prix at the famous Swiss venue.

It was a sixth runner-up finish in Grand Prix for the Castlemagner pilot this year, to go with his maiden GP triumph with Coriaan Van Klapscheut Z at Wellington last month.

It was fourth second placing with the Patrick Connolly-bred James Kann Cruz (ISH), who is metronomic when it comes to clearing obstacles but invariably finds one rival who is a little nimbler covering the ground.

That ensures a remarkable consistency for the lovable grey known as Gizmo – and owned by Gizmo Partners – who was Sweetnam’s partner at the Olympics in Paris last year.

The duo were among eight pairs to make the jump-off. Coyle just missed out on Incredible, who jumped perfectly but picked up one time fault for going 0.77 seconds over the 74 second standard, though he still picked up €9,000 for 12th, with Simon Delestre (FRA), Peder Fredricson (SWE) and Ben Maher (GBR) also misjudging the time requirement ever so slightly.

Being first of the octet into the arena was a clear disadvantage for Sweetnam and Gizmo, and in that context, the repeat clear in 41.39 seconds was a scintillating effort and though three others managed to replicate the faultless renewals, they could not match that time.

The world No 1, Kent Farrington and his high-class mare Greya could not be held at bay however, stopping the timers at 40.04 while leaving all the rails intact to garner the lion’s share of the prize money.

Coyle had no doubt about who his “bundle of joy” was this week as Daydream marked a landmark week for the Ardmore native by providing another five-star victory to the CV in Geneva.

The Lovin’ Spoonful penned the archetypal song for chilling out, but the horse that shares its name, and the man on her back were all business when it came to delivering on the big stage.

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On the week where the Irish No 1 was named The Irish Field senior Irish Showjumper of the Year for the third straight season and also competed in the Rolex IJRC Top Ten final for the first time, it was fitting that Coyle would exhibit his innate horsemanship in combining education with the competitive spirit in Friday’s 1.45m speed class.

Coyle had to love how the Ariel Grange-owned Daydream made light of the 14 jumping efforts and responded to his signals for tight turns, as they took the honours with clear round in 56.27 seconds, which was only 0.14 quicker than Bryan Balsiger (SUI) with Castiel.

“My plan was to put the wheels back on the wagon,” Coyle told World of Showjumping afterwards.

“I jumped her last night in the Grand Prix qualifier, and Daydream is a new horse to this level. Every class we do, she is learning every step. She is very careful and she has taken a little bit more time than normal.

“Yesterday, I turned tight back to a triple bar and it scared her a little bit, so we went to try and put it right today – and she did.

“I am very happy. We were really as one today.”

The 31-year-old Derry man, who is the highest ranked Irish rider at No 10 in the world, joined forces with Incredible for the season-ending Top Ten and the duo finished seventh in their inaugural appearance in the tough 1.60m two-round affair.

Great Britain’s Scott Brash was triumphant with Hello Chadora Lady, ahead of the only other double clear pairing, Kent Farrington (USA) with Toulayna.

Coyle and Incredible had just one jumping error in each round and were the quickest of the eight faulters.