HORSE SPORT IRELAND SELECTIONS FOR WORLD CUP SHOWS

Horse Sport Ireland has confirmed that the following riders have been selected for the first seven Rolex FEI World Cup shows.

OSLO; Jessica Kurten
HELSINKI; Cameron Hanley
LYON; Cian O'Connor
VERONA; Cian O'Connor
STUTTGART; Denis Lynch
OLYMPIA; Billy Twomey
MECHELEN; Cameron Hanley

The World Cup is the world's highest level of indoor jumping. The places
at the remaining world cup shows which take place in January, February
and March will be allocated at a later stage.

The World Cup final is taking place in Geneva on the weekend of
14-18 April, 2010 and riders must qualify for this through designated
qualifying shows around the world.

Each National Federation is allowed to nominate one rider for each of
these shows and the places were allocated by Team Manager Robert
Splaine with particular emphasis on the support the rider gave to the
Irish Nations’ Cup team during the outdoor season.

Some Irish riders may also be successful in securing personal invites
to these shows.

"I am pleased to be able to allocate these shows to our top riders who
have supported the Irish Nations’ Cup team this year. This is competition
of the highest standard and there is a strong level of interest amongst
our top riders for the places," said Splaine today (Tuesday).

He explained that he would be announcing his selection for the shows in
the new year at a later stage.

"Obviously I will be watching the form of the riders and monitoring
their progress, however the commitment shown to the Nations’ Cup team
during the 2009 outdoor season will still be the main criteria for these
later world cup shows," he said.

“We used nine riders and 16 horses in the Meydan series during the year
and the team finished a comfortable fifth in the series. The series was
spread over eight top shows and it took significant planning, and also
commitment from the riders, to ensure that we stayed competitive without overusing any combination," he said.

"I am glad to be able to reward the riders and owners who went out of
their way to support the team, with places at World Cup shows," he
added.