Paul Darragh, whose double clear in Dublin clinched the Aga Khan cup for Ireland earlier this month, opened his European show jumping championship campaign in winning style when claiming the second of the two warm-up classes in Mannheim, Germany, yesterday.
Darragh was teamed up with his Dublin Nations Cup heroine, the nine-year-old Australian mare Scandal, which he jumps with such style for Princess Haya and, while the majority of the field treated the class as a schooling round, Darragh cut every corner to clock the winning time of 62.76, more than three seconds faster than runner-up Gunter Orschel.
"She won the Derby here in May", Darragh said of Scandal, "so she obviously likes it here." But, in spite of the win, the Meath jockey has made no alterations to his plans and will still ride Princess Haya's other mare, the grey Cera in the first leg of the official championships today, when the fences are expected to be substantially bigger.
Even without the services of reigning European champion Peter Charles, who has been forced to miss the defence of his 1995 title following injury to La Ina, chef d'equipe Tommy Wade admits to being "half-confident" about Ireland's chances in the team rankings, although he views both the British and the Dutch as the major threats to Irish hopes.
"I'm always a pessimist", Wade said after Darragh's morale boosting victory, "but everybody thinks we have a good chance and I'm half optimistic we'll be in the shake-up. I really think we could be in there at the death in the teams."
Wade, who took over as chef d'equipe this year following the retirement of Colonel Ned Campion and promptly conjured up an against-the-odds Aga Khan win in Dublin, is trying out new tactics in an attempt to give the Irish a head start going into tomorrow's team decider.
Today's speed leg counts for both the team and individual rankings, but the winner is likely to come from one of the countries not expected to feature in the Nations Cup placings. Hugo Simon and the phenomenal ET, winners of the Volvo World Cup final at Easter, are tipped for the top and certainly jumped superbly here yesterday and, without any realistic hope in the teams, the Austrian is expected to be in Michael Schumacher mode today.
But Wade is concentrating on the team medals and the possibility of a good individual placing is viewed as something of a bonus. However, he hasn't ruled out the possibility of Trevor Coyle and Cruising getting within striking distance of the podium.
"Cruising is the one horse that could do it", Wade said yesterday. "He can really gallop against the clock and the bigger the fences the better he jumps." Precisely because of these qualities, Wade has put Cruising last in to jump today, when a fast clear could be all-important for Ireland's chances in tomorrow's Nations Cup.
Eddie Macken and Schalkhaar, who usually occupy the number four berth, will be called in as pathfinders today, followed by Captain John Ledingham (Kilbaha) and Paul Darragh (Cera), with Coyle bringing up the rear, although Wade stressed that he will probably change the order for the team decider.
