Irish rider Daniel Coyle has the world (cup) at his fingertips while holding the reins of 12-year-old mare Legacy.

Their partnership is one that many show jumpers dream of having in their career. Coyle and Legacy began their campaign in 2018 when he took over the ride from Belgian athlete Annelies Vorsselmans. Initially, there was a learning curve, but the 2022 season proved to be their breakout year. The pair took bronze at the ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, gold in the Nations Cup of Canada in June, a CSI5*-W World Cup win in Toronto in November, and a CSI5* Grand Prix win this month at Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) Thermal.

On Saturday, they secured their second North American League (NAL) World Cup victory in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Fort Worth, Texas.

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“Legacy had to learn to go fast, and thankfully now I think she’s one of the faster horses I have,” said Coyle.

The pair proved just how fast in the Anderson Lima (BR) designed jump-off, negotiating the eight effort jump off track in a blistering 31.47 seconds.

It was nearly a second ahead of McLain Ward (USA) and 15-year-old mare HH Callas’s time of 32.60 seconds. Canadian Erynn Ballard rounded out the podium with 11-year-old gelding Gakhir.

The podium reflected the three horse jump-off, and while that put the odds of a top finish in Coyle’s favor, the fierce nature of the sport today produces no moments in the ring that are free of pressure. Especially, the Will Rodgers Coliseum this weekend.

“The way the sport has [evolved], you have to be able to go so fast. In the beginning, [Legacy] was always fast, but she didn’t really understand what she was doing. As the night shows, you have to be able to do everything to beat [your competitors],” said Coyle.

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Legacy has proven to be a quick study. The mare has a 61% top ten finish rate at 1.60m and has earned 811,484 Euro in prize money to date, according to Jumpr App.

Coyle is in the season of his life, too. At age 28, he’s climbing the world rankings and growing his family as a father of two kids under four. It’s a far cry from the uncertain future he faced seven years ago. In 2015, Coyle was building his career in Ireland when one of his main owners passed away and the other chose to leave the sport, leaving the Irish rider to question the way forward.

In 2016, he made the move to Canada to ride for Susan and Ariel Grange’s Lothlorien Farm in Cheltenham, Ontario, the owners of Legacy. Fast forward to 2022, he’s sky rocketed to number 26 on the Longines World Ranking List and usurped fellow Irishman Conor Swail on the NAL League Standings, sitting on 66 points leading up to the World Cup Finals in Omaha, NB.

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“I don’t know that being first or second or third in the league [standings] brings you anything when you get to the Final. But it assures you get there, so that’s always good, too!” said Coyle.

There are still two legs left to go, and riders will have to battle it out again for a ticket to Omaha in January in Puebla, Mexico.

Feature Image: ©FEI/Shannon Brinkman