DUBLIN, Ireland--The U.S. Jumping Team had 20 faults in the first round of the Nations Cup of Ireland in Dublin, a hole too deep to dig themselves out of, so despite three clean trips in the second round the U.S. finished sixth of seven teams.

Laura Kraut on Confu (Photo by Rolf Stenberg)The team did have three clears in the second round on the huge grass arena, showing an ability to adjust and improve with each round.

Ireland and France were tied with four faults after the two rounds, so Conor Swail on Count Me In for Ireland and Marc Dilasser on Arioto du Gevres for France jumped off, with Swail finishing in 30.3, a second faster than Dilasser, to give Ireland the win.

France finished second and Switzerland was third with eight faults, followed by Netherlands, 12 faults, Brazil, 16 faults, U.S, 20 and Norway, 44.

In the first round, Lillie Keenan on Queensland E had 12 faults, Spencer Smith on Untouchable 32, also had 12 faults, Katie Dinan on Brego R'N B had eight faults and Laura Kraut on Confu was clean.

 

"THIS WAS a tremendous comeback effort for our team," said Chef d'Equipe Robert Ridland. "We went over what didn’t work one-on-one and each combination had a different area to fix, but they were fixes that were easy for them to address. Each of them executed what we discussed in their second rounds. Laura just needed to do the same thing in the second round and it went to plan. The grit and the determination, and the ability to turn the switch, fix the problem, and not get down with the result or where we were, but to come back and fight was just amazing. It was a tremendous second round effort on everyone’s part, and it was great to see from this team."

In the second round, Kennan was clean, but Smith lost his stirrup at fence six and had  eight and a time fault, then Dinan and Kraut were both clean.

The Grand Prix of Ireland CSIO5* will take place on Sunday, Aug. 21, and begin at 10:00 a.m. ET.