Three former champions – Carne, Greenhills and Springmount – will line out in the final of the Horseware sponsored AIRC Team Show Jumping Championship at the Dublin Horse Show on Sunday.
Almost 130 teams took part in qualifiers which took place around the country earlier this year with just nine going forward to the final.
This years line-up includes two finalists from last year including Carne and Earls Well while two newcomers – Ard Lu and Rock of Cashel – will be joined by Greenhills, Hollybrook, Mosstown, Springmount and Mo Chara who won the wildcard qualifier.
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Ard Lu, which was established in 2017, will make its first appearance in the final after a dramatic win at the North East qualifier where the team won by just 0.04 seconds to secure their ticket.
The Wexford based, Carne Riding Club, who were third last year will be hoping to end a ten-year hiatus after they last lifted the title in 2009. It is the clubs third appearance in a row and their sixth appearance in the final.
Earl’s Well Riding Club will be making their second appearance in a row but will have the advantage of having a full team on this occasion after they were reduced to three riders last year when they finished in eighth place.
The Kildare based Greenhills club has a strong record in the championship final having won the title on five occasions, three of those were back to back from 2002 to 2004 and again in 2014 and most recently in 2017.
Hollybrook, who will be making its fifth appearance in the final, will be hoping to improve on their last outing in 2015 while their best result came in 2014 when they finished in fourth place.
The Mo Chara club will be hoping to go one better than their last outing in the final when they took the runners-up spot in 2016. The Kildare based club also contested the 2010 and 2015 finals.
Mosstown will be bridging a twelve-year gap when they take to the Simmonscourt arena on Sunday. The Longford based club was seventh in 2007 but were runners-up in their only other appearance in 2006.
Rock of Cashel, another newly affiliated club, emerged from a field of 15 teams at the West Midlands qualifier in May to book their ticket.
This will be Springmount’s fourth appearance in the final which they previously won in 1996 but their best result in recent times came in 2017 when the club took sixth place.
Rock of Cashel will be the first of the nine teams to enter the Simmoncourt arena when the competition gets underway at 3:20 pm with the parade of teams on Sunday. The Tipperary based club will be followed by Mo Chara, Hollybrook, Ard Lu, Springmount, Greenhills, Carne, Earl’s Well and Mosstown.
Online scoring of the competition will be available on our website throughout the competition.
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