Ireland Excels with a Commanding Win in the Nations Cup of Vejer de La Frontera CSIO 3*

By Jumper News on 2024-10-26

Vejer de La Frontera, Spain – October 25, 2024 – With a plethora of classes, it was a really busy day of jumping here at the October Tour and the highlight of the day for the audience, was the Nations Cup

The biggest event today by far was the Nations Cup CSIO 3*, which was also a Longines Ranking event. This was well up to the 1.50m height and is the last Nations Cup round for 2024. The Irish team took control from the word go; with all four riders going clear in the first phase. Indeed in the individual Ranking class, (after the first round) all four Irish riders were in the top ten fastest clears, with Michael Pender (IRL) and HHS Los Angles taking top spot, French Stanislas de Malet (FRA) in second with Zambo MZ and Brazilian João Victor Castro (BRA) in third. After this first round only eight teams moved forward to the second round.

Despite picking up nine faults in the second round, the Irish team still dominated the event and were clear winners. The team was made up of Michael Pender (IRL), Jason Foley (IRL) with Jacksonville Eurohill (IRL), Seamus Hughes Kennedy (IRL) with ESI Rocky and Olympic rider, Cian O’Connor (IRL) with Iron Man.

Second place went to the Belgian team that consisted of Thibault Philippaerts (BEL), Bertrand Genin(BEL), Mathieu Bourdeaud’Hui (BEL) and Thomas de Wit (BEL). Third was the American team, made up of Taylor Kain (USA), Vani Khosla (USA), Raleigh Hiler (USA) and Zayna Rizvi (USA).

In fourth were Brazil, with Pedro Veniss (BRA), João Víctor Castro (BRA), Mariana Frauches Chaves (BRA) and Luiz Felipe de Azevedo (BRA). The German team were fifth with two clears in this second round, from Maximilian Lill and Leonie Böckmann.

Saturday is another busy day of jumping, during which we will celebrate two Longines Ranking classes: the Royal Bliss Trophy in the CSIO3* and also the Stephex Grand Prix in the CSI2*. The whole event is sponsored by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, and co-financed by the European Union and the Provincial Council of Cadiz.