Eddie Macken makes his first appearance in Ireland with new partner Cruising at Millstreet tonight when he bids for a place in tomorrow's prestigious World Cup qualifier start list.

Macken took over the ride on the Hartwell Stud stallion at the beginning of September following a rift between Cruising's owner Mary McCann and the horse's long-term jockey Trevor Coyle. After a poor performance in the first round of the European showjumping championship at Hickstead, Mary McCann withdrew the stallion from the team championship and then approached Macken to offer him the horse.

The new partnership made its competition debut at the world breeding championships in Lanaken, Belgium, at the end of September, finishing third in the special stallion grand prix. Since then it's been a matter of fine tuning the performance, but the stakes are considerably higher at Millstreet, as Trevor Coyle has triumphed in the Irish World Cup qualifier with Cruising for the last two years running and went on to finish second overall in the World Cup final in Gothenburg, Sweden, last April.

The British challenge was considerably weakened last week with the news of Nick Skelton's withdrawal due to injury. But the British still have a good chance of claiming a substantial share of the £90,000 on offer at Millstreet through Robert Smith, William Funnell and Peter Charles' Traxdata team-mate Tim Stockdale.

Although Millstreet is going ahead without the world's top 25 riders, who are continuing with the International Jumping Riders Club boycott of all World Cup shows that offer less than £100,000 in their three main classes, the IJRC has pledged its full support to the Co Cork fixture for next year, stating that the boycott is not a reflection on individual shows but is the result of a dispute between the IJRC and the International Equestrian Federation over levels of prizemoney at televised World Cup shows.

An agreement formalising Kieren Fallon's position as stable jockey to Sir Michael Stoute will be in place for the start of next year's Flat turf season, the trainer revealed today.