February 19, 2025 
There’s an old saying that reemerges every year in the U.S. around this time, on green mugs and T-shirts in the lead-up to St. Patrick’s Day: “If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.”
Luck had little to do with it, though, on Saturday, February 15, when the Irish stormed the podium at Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Ocala. Cian O’Connor and Bentley de Sury took the win, while Shane Sweetnam (James Kann Cruz), Daniel Coyle (Incredible), and O’Connor’s student Tom Wachman (Tabasco de Toxandria Z) settled for the next three placings.
In fact, the Irish made up 18% of the qualifier’s startlist. They made up 70% of its jump-off, and 100% of the podium. That’s not a coincidence.
O’Connor—who last won a World Cup qualifier at CSI2* Ocala at Live Oak 10 years ago—said that while it may be daunting to have a warm-up ring full of his countrymen breathing down his neck, nothing drives him to succeed more.
“When there are so many Irish in the jump-off, you [know] they go so hard, it motivates me a little bit to give it a proper go.”
Incidentally, just hours before their triumphant rout of the World Cup qualifier in Ocala, the Irish Team was victorious in the controversial, first Longines League of Nations leg in Abu Dhabi.
They did so on a score of zero, with only two riders, Denis Lynch (Vistogrand) and Michael Pender (HHS Los Angeles), ranked among the top 50 in the world. The pair were joined by Trevor Breen (High President) and Jason Foley aboard new ride Chedington Hazy Toulana. Foley was the drop score, accruing just two time faults.
In fact, while Germany was victorious in last year’s League of Nations™ championship at Barcelona, Team Ireland were the winners in the 2024 standings on 235—a full 25 points ahead of Sweden, who finished second. Ireland also won the coveted 2024 Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup at CHIO Aachen.
According to some of the nation’s top riders, the ‘team’ mentality is a notion that’s as ingrained in Emerald Isle sport as the will to win.
“We’re always trying to be knocking at the door and we’re always trying to help each other out if we see something and think we can help someone,” Sweetnam explained after his second-place finish at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Ocala.
O’Connor agreed. “We have a relationship, we work together, we discuss the courses together. People are behind the other person doing well. And that kind of culture creates a mood where everyone wants to go out, and if it’s not your night, and one of the other riders do well, you’re [genuinely] happy.“
With this performance in Ocala, a number of Irish officially punched their tickets to FEI World Cup Finals in Basel, Switzerland (April 2-6), with the North America-based Kenny, Sweetnam, and Coyle all qualifying as ‘Extra Athletes.’
At least two more Irish riders in the Western European League, Cian O’Connor and Denis Lynch, are currently on the bubble to qualify for the Finals, with only one Western European League qualifier remaining in the 2024/2025 season. That event will take place this week in Göteborg, Sweden—though only Lynch is slated to compete.
“[Ireland] is not like Sweden, where one-eighth of the population is involved with horses. Ireland has a lot of people involved with Thoroughbreds, that’s more of a thing,” Sweetnam explained.
“But [it is the kind of thing where maybe] the farmer [near you] used to have a pony, they breed a mare—it’s in our culture. It’s not a huge percentage, but it’s enough to get the riders out there.”
Sweetnam stresses, however, that there’s no one pathway to success in Ireland, noting that he didn’t come to the sport professionally until he was in his early 20s, after graduating college. “It’s all different. Cian started later in life. [Daniel] started very young, there was no other option for him,” Sweetnam joked.
“You always have to solve problems with the ponies and the horses you have, and sometimes [in Ireland], there wasn’t people there to tell you, so you’d have to figure it out yourself. I think all [our] guys have that in them. [They] can take training on board, but they also can think for themselves.”
Perhaps it’s that unique combination of backyard grittiness and a willingness to learn that consistently puts that Irish a head above the rest in show jumping. Whatever it is, the results speak for themselves.
At press time, Ireland has seven riders (14%) in the top 50 in the world on the Longines Rankings; the most of any nation. This, despite the fact that the island has less than half the population (45%) of Belgium, and just 6% the population of Germany, its next-closest rivals, each with 6 riders (12%) a piece.
“I think there’s a big emphasis for team riding, on Nation’s Cups, [on team jumping championships]. People want to be on the team, they want to jump clear rounds for their country, get behind the flag, and a rising tide lifts all boats,” O’Conner explained.
“All the Irish, all over the world, we punch above our weight, I suppose, for a small nation. But [we’re] horsemen and [we] want to win, and we all motivate each other.”
