Ireland arrived at Dehesa Montenmedio as holders and left with the trophy still in their possession, winning the €50,000 CSIO3* KAR Sport Horses Nations Cup on the Andalucía October Tour on a team total of four faults.
Fourteen nations started and ten came back for the second round, with Italy having led the way after round one on nothing more than two time penalties and Ireland and the United States tied behind them on four apiece. From that position the competition turned entirely on which side could hold itself together second time out, and the answer, emphatically, was Ireland, who added nothing at all.
Jessica Kürten's side was built on the kind of consistency that wins Nations Cups rather than headlines. Francis Derwin and the Irish Sport Horse Flexi K jumped a double clear, Jessica Burke and Billy Fern produced the fastest double clear of the afternoon, and Tom Wachman and Do It Easy, whose opening round had been the Irish drop score, returned faultless when it mattered. Dermott Lennon and Kinmar Right on Time, bred by Gerrard Marron, contributed four faults in each round, the second of which was discarded.
Behind them the United States took second on eight faults, Italy held third on ten having led at halfway, Switzerland came fourth on thirteen, Great Britain fifth on fourteen and hosts Spain sixth on sixteen. Germany, who had sat fifth after the opening round, slipped to eighth.
Ireland’s Francis Derwin, Jessica Burke, Billy Fern and Dermott Lennon, winners of the KAR Sport Horses Nations Cup at the Montenmedio CSIO3*, 2026. Image: ©P. Lainez for Andalucia October Tour.
A Young American Side Comes Good
Anne Kursinski's second place is worth more than the placing suggests, because three of her four riders were contesting their first Nations Cup.
Carlee McCutcheon led off with Aralyn Blue and went clear, Charlise Casas and Kanny-Fee produced the second-round clear that Kursinski afterwards described as crucial to the result, Adam Prudent and Karnak du Roset delivered two solid rounds, and Emily Esau Williams closed the competition out with Cascarado on another clear. Kursinski's verdict was that she was thrilled with a group who had each produced scores that counted, which is about as much as a chef d'équipe can ask of a debutant squad against fourteen nations.
Wachman, Four Months On
The name to follow out of Vejer is Tom Wachman's. In July he took individual silver at the FEI Jumping European Championship for Young Riders at Hagen, finishing on 1.62 penalties aboard Do It Easy and adding to Ireland's team silver in the same week. Four months later, on the same horse, he jumped a second-round clear for a winning senior Irish Nations Cup team.
That is an Irish pathway operating exactly as it was designed to, and it is why a three-star Nations Cup in Andalusia matters. Our report from Hagen is here [LINK anchor: "Our report from Hagen is here" → Hagen Young Riders report].
Competition at Vejer ran on through to the CSIO3* Grand Prix on Sunday 1 November.
