Equestrianism: Ashe goes clear to deny Fuchs and Burke

Molly Ashe gave the United States the final word at the Dublin Super League Show, after jumping Neuville to the steady clear round that was needed to secure victory over Marcus Fuchs of Switzerland and Marie Burke of Ireland.

Both Fuchs (who was the leading rider of the show) and Burke had incurred a single time fault in the first round but, with the best nine going through to the jump-off, they remained in the reckoning. Indeed, they held the top two places until Ashe came in last to the jump-off and left all the fences intact.

Ashe will not be on the United States team for this month's World Equestrian Games at Aachen in Germany. Instead, she goes to the valuable Spruce Meadows Masters Tournament at Calgary in Canada in September.

By contrast, the four British riders are likely to form the World Games team and they did not have an encouraging send-off. John Whitaker was the best, having just one fence down in the first round on Peppermill, which left him out of the jump-off in 12th place.

Tim Gredley had 12 faults on Omelli, Michael Whitaker had 18 on Mozart des Hayettes and Robert Smith retired Marius Claudius after he had left two rails on the floor.

William Funnell's Cortaflex Mondriaan, who was out of action throughout the show, may or may not be back in contention for a place on the team.