First Irish rider gets a score on the board, while we find out more about a barefoot clear round ‘machine’ at World Showjumping Championships

Ireland’s first team rider to go in the second leg of the showjumping competition at the Agria FEI World Showjumping Championships, Denis Lynch, added four faults to his first round score of 4.68 in the World Showjumping Championships results this afternoon (11 August).

Denis was ninth to go, riding Brooklyn Heights, a new ride for him since February and they jumped a good round, but took the front rail of the final part of the treble combination at fence nine.

Brooklyn Heights, who is owned by Molly Ohrstrom, is by Nabab De Reve and is out of a For Pleasure mare.

The next Irish rider to go will be Bertram Allen, who rides Pacino Amiro at these World Showjumping Championships in Herning, Denmark.

Meanwhile, current world number one showjumper Henrik von Eckermann did what he does best with the incredible gelding King Edward by jumping a flawless clear round, which puts him in top spot after the first rotation of riders in the World Showjumping Championships results table.

“This is a great place to ride but maybe the course is a little bit soft today,” Henrik said after his round on the 12-year-old who jumped clear in every single round of the Tokyo Olympics. “I think we’ll see too many clears today – it’s still a long course though [with 14 fences] and they have to jump a lot, plus there are some more weak countries that are still in the competition and so I think the course tomorrow will be more tough when the more established riders are the only ones left in the competition.”

Henrik explained of King Edward’s round today: “He’s so confident and the good thing is I can jump five, six jumps in the warm-up, go in and be really relaxed, do that job and and he comes out hardly blowing – it’s definitely an advantage.”

Henrik has been riding this son of Edward 28 for the past two years since taking over the ride from his partner Janika Sprunger

“King Edward has the whole package – his brain is great, and he is so careful but still so brave and he’s such a sweet horse – a once in a lifetime horse,” explained Henrik, who has been riding this horse barefoot for the past 18 months. “He has fantastic feet – like rocks – and I feel he goes better without his shoes on, so why not?”

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