Shane Breen put in the strongest of bids for his place on tomorrow's Aga Khan Cup team when missing out on victory in last night's Irish Sports Council Classic by the skin of his teeth.
The 31-year-old Co Tipperary rider was only drafted on to the official Irish squad on Monday when Marion Hughes's horse, Heritage Transmission, was withdrawn lame. But his performance yesterday has given team manager Robert Splaine plenty of food for thought before he announces the quartet that will be flying the flag for Ireland tomorrow afternoon.
Breen was one of four Irish through to a 17-horse jump-off for a €20,000 prize fund put up by the Irish Sports Council. Francis Connors led off for the home side with Merlin's Magic, but a fence down left him out of the reckoning.
Frenchman Stephan Lafouge then set the first serious target with a clear in 41.03 seconds on Gabelou des Ores and, although the time was eminently beatable, the fences got in the way of all those that aspired to topple him.
Breen, drawn midway through the field, set off at great pace with the grey World Cruise and the pair were well up on the clock with just two left to jump. But the sharp turn back to the second last was their undoing as the son of Cruising put his eye on the triple bar, the first part of the double from the first round.
"He thought we were going to jump that and I had to pull him away from it," Breen said afterwards. The result was a slightly flat jump at the yellow-and-white vertical and the top rail slid off for a costly four faults that dropped Breen to seventh, reducing his earnings from a potential €6,600 to just €800.
Lafouge held on for the win from a brace of Dutchmen, Piet Raymakers and Sydney Olympic gold medalist Jeroen Dubbeldam.
Despite Breen's performance, the team manager was giving nothing away about his selection for tomorrow's all-important Samsung Super League round.
"My mind is clear, but I'm just playing my cards close to my chest. A day is a long time in show jumping," the Corkman said last night. Splaine will wait until after today's action before announcing the quartet that will be bidding to get Ireland off the bottom of the Super League rankings tomorrow afternoon.
Other Irish picking up a share of yesterday's prize fund were Capt Shane Carey, who was third in the Speed Stakes, and Edward Doyle, who finished fourth in the opening class.