Throwing down another extraordinary performance, Ireland’s Daniel Coyle and the 14-year-old super-mare, Legacy, stormed to victory for the second time in a week at the twelfth leg of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ 2023/2024 Western European League in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. “My brother Jordan won everything in ponies and I didn’t win so much, or it seemed like that because he was winning everything!"
Coyle reflected on where all this recent success has come from. Commitment and determination have played a major role from an early age. In any sport I suppose you just get stuck in and get on with it or you get left behind and give up. Thankfully it went the right way for me in the end!”, he said.
So what about his ability to thrive under pressure in a jump-off?
“I think it goes back to riding those ponies at home in Ireland where it’s very competitive. I rode with my brothers and everybody else, even the likes of Richard Howley who now also has won a few World Cups. We all grew up on ponies and I was always chasing those guys, But it’s good to see now I can have some revenge, and I guess I also had some great horses in my career in the smaller divisions that have taught me how to do jump-offs. In the end if being competitive in a jump-off is all I can give back to Legacy then I’m happy enough with that!”, he said.
Today’s win was also particularly satisfying because Greve beat the Irishman in the Grand Prix at Rotterdam. “Willem is always very fast and I didn’t want to get beaten by him again!”
He wasn’t sure of the result until the very end however. “I was going through the finish still looking at the clock hoping I was fast enough, I didn’t know if I was slow or fast or what was the difference but anyway I was on the right side of it and it’s much better to win by three seconds than three-hundredths!”, he pointed out.
Sensitivity
For Coyle this whole experience with Legacy, called “Dolly” by her owner Ariel Grange of Lothlorien Farms in Toronto, Canada, is tinged with an extra level of sensitivity. Because when he left Ireland to ride for fellow-Irishman Conor Swail and for Ariel’s mother, the late Susan Grange, in early 2016 he could never have known how his career would play out.
“Before Sue died (in October 2017) Ariel only had a few younger horses and wasn’t so involved, so I didn’t know if she was going to step up and do what she has done”, Coyle explained this evening. Legacy is named in Susan’s memory, and while the Irishman’s partnership with Ariel has gone from strength to strength, his relationship with the mare has also grown into something pretty unique during their seven years together. Although it hasn’t always been plain sailing.
“For years there we weren’t really on the same page. She’d jump one fence very high and the next fence I’d ask her to jump, like a plank or something delicate, she’d knock it down and I’d be very confused as to why. But I feel now we are very much on the same page, we have a real understanding”, he explained.
Results have proven that beyond doubt, and the Irish rider, whose World Cup points are accumulated on the North American League table, has now taken over the lead by a long distance ahead of the Longines 2024 Final in Riyadh (KSA) in April.
Asked about his plans for Legacy, he said this evening, “she goes back now to Ariel’s new farm in Orlando, Florida (USA) and she will have a few weeks off and then probably the 5* Nations Cup in Ocala will be her next big event.
“We’ve a huge year ahead with the World Cup Final and the Olympics, and for sure we’ll be looking at both with her but we have to have a conversation about it all. The main thing is to get her to the Olympic Games like she is right now and to try and win a medal! She’s in the prime of her life, she’s got better, she’s got older, and maybe so have I, so I’m delighted!”, Coyle said.
source: FEI