THE Casas Novas Equestrian Centre in A Coruña, in the north western region of Spain delivered in spades as host venue for last week’s Longines FEI European Championships.

Perhaps it was a first that they were no complaints (that I heard) from anyone across the board – riders, grooms, vets, team managers, media, etc – about the working facilities, footing, stables; even the shuttle buses ran like clockwork. The week was pretty thrilling all round.

As an Irish member of the press hoping to have a medal-winning cover for this week’s paper, it was a little bit gutting to see the team finish fourth and two Irish inside the top seven, but no medal. What 22-year-old Seamus Hughes Kennedy did in A Coruña was wonderful. Not just on the field of play, but off it as well. My press room colleagues from around the world were so impressed by his level of professionalism when speaking to the media after his rounds. ‘Ah it was grand now’ was his response after his second clear round of the week – he had everyone reeling; how could he be so laid back?

He was understandably disappointed after jumping every single fence clear all week and missing out on a medal by two places, less than a fence. The time fault he picked up in the first round of Sunday’s final didn’t cost him a medal, only a place to former Olympic champion Ben Maher. In one way, maybe it was easier to finish fifth than fourth?! As Michael Blake says elsewhere on this page, you don’t even get a plastic medal for fourth.

Clear rounds

There were 18 clears from 25 starters in the first round of Sunday’s final over the track built by Santiago Varela. That is a 52% clear rate, by far the highest in the last eight European Championships. In Milan two years ago, for example, there were just five clears in the first round (21%), followed by four in the second top 12 round (26%). Last Sunday, 10 of the final top 12 jumped clear – 83% strike rate. Is that too many clear rounds for a championship? I asked almost every rider that came to the mixed zone afterwards and they all said pretty much the same thing - that the courses were tough, when they walked it they thought it would be very difficult, but that the horses were just jumping fantastic on the surface. The world renowned Santiago Varela was happy overall with his courses, but did admit he made a mistake on Thursday when taking the decision to measure on the outside (see his explanation on page 79).

The calibre of horses was phenomenal and particularly the two stallions on the individual podium – United Touch S and Ermintage Kalone. However, when the final eight all came in one after another and jumped clear, with no change to the standings, it wasn’t the most exciting ending to the week.