In Warsaw, Poland, the Italian team won the final of the Longines EEF Series Nations Cup after a nail-biting jump-off against Ireland.
Both teams found themselves on eight penalties after the second round. Ireland bet on Seamus Hughes Kennedy to compete in the decisive round. The Irishman had the 9-year-old, and also Irish-bred, ESI Rocky (Stakkato Gold) under the saddle and immediately set the bar high with a clear ride in a time of 42.42s. Piergiorgio Bucci, the delegate of the Italian team, had a clear goal in mind and sent the KWPN-bred Hantano (Quasimodo Z) around clear as well! Their time: 41.73s. Bucci did not start in the first round and had a jumping fault with the 12-year-old gelding in the second. Thus, the duo came fresh to the start of the jump-off, where they sealed the victory.
Best rider in typical Italian attire was Alberto Zorzi, who kept the Zangersheide gelding Cortez van't Klein Asdonk Z clear in both rounds of the 1m55 high course! The son of Cornet Obolensky is a breeding product of Eddy Thomas. For both Giulia Martinengo Marquet with Scuderia 1918 Deluxe (Cesano) and Emanuele Camilli on Chacco's Girlstar (Chacco-Blue) there was a clear start in the first round.
Among the Irish, not a single combination managed to finish double clear but the strong results from the first round, where only finalist Kennedy failed, were their salvation. Except for Jenny Rankin, who had the KWPN's Ibiza (Inshallah de Muze) under saddle, the entire team came to the start with Irish breeding products. Jessica Burke counted on Express Trend (Future Trend) while Francis Derwin had Flexi K (Flex a Bill) under the saddle.
The bronze was for the German team, which concluded with twelve penalties.