Mounted Games Euros 2025 | Highlights, Insights & Post-Competition Review

🎠 Mounted Games Euros 2025 – Post-Competition Review 🎬
Top moments, smart strategies & behind-the-scenes insights from Millstreet! 🇮🇪🔥
📍 Location: Millstreet Green Glens Arena, Ireland
📅 Date: July 28 – August 3, 2025
🌍 Event: Mounted Games European Championships (Teams & Individuals)

In this video, we take a deep dive into the Mounted Games European Championship 2025 – showcasing the best action, unexpected moments, and expert analysis.

👍 Like the video if you enjoyed it
🔔 Subscribe for more Mounted Games content
📲 Share it with your teammates & fans!

[Music] [Music] Hello Jake. Hello V. We are back from the Europeans uh in Mil Street. Uh but before we get started, I can see uh there are golf golfing clubs in the back. So, have you switched from riding to golf? I have to do something with my spare time. Keep active. Yeah. Good. Okay. Very good. Trying. I’m trying. Yeah. I I’m sure it takes some time to get started. Yeah. So, Jake, last week Europeans uh the outside uh it looked like a fantastic competition. How did you experience it from an organizer perspective and from just being on site? Um, it was good. I didn’t do too much organizing myself, but I did quite a lot of helping out when I was there. Um, it ran seemed to run very smoothly. Um, busy entertainment. There was a lot of entertainment which is very good. I’m not sure if you saw some of the videos. Um yeah, they had something on every single evening. They had we went down into the town for the um for a parade and the whole of Mil Street came out which a great atmosphere. Um and then yeah, the writing was really good with them. I was glad a lot of things with like the teams not many teams are there and I think um uh going into it when there’s only one heat you’re expecting it to be a bit dull but uh I think that new system worked very well. Yeah, actually I I I kind of thought the new system would on was on. Then I had forgotten about it and when we got started on on our show, I still not quite sure whether that it will be on and I then had to kind of understand what the system would be like. So for the listeners um in the past if there would only be one heat uh so let’s say 16s or 17s um you would write the European championship with six final heats and all the points would be added up. Obviously, um if you have a team that is slightly better than other teams, it will just they will just separate themselves quite quickly and the competition will become quite boring to watch and probably also not very entertaining to be part of. So the has come up with with a new system and I must say I was quite um enjoying it. So what we are doing right now is that in the sessions you can get a slight advantage. So if you win a session you get as many points as teams in the session. Um and then those will be added up during the four sessions. So in the opens at the Europeans the maximum amount of points that you could get were 24. So that’s six points uh multiplied by four. And yeah, so you can get a slight advantage but not a big advantage. Uh and it leaves a little bit excitement for the last day or two. Uh and yeah, maybe Jake, we just start with the opens to talk about a little bit about the opens because um the opens went into the final with I think even points for France and England. Yeah, I think France might have been slightly ahead, but it wasn’t much. Okay. like one or two points. So yeah, there was nothing really. Yeah, go ahead. Um yeah, it was very good. Now look, it was that competition was going to be just England and France for the win. Um yeah, it was a bit close closer for kind of fourth, fifth, but it meant that there was no team running away with it and going into the last heat there was, you know, there was nothing to play for. Um, it was a good competition. They were I was a bit disappointed with France to start with. I thought they had a very, very strong team looking at them on paper. Um, and with England, how they’ve kind of separated their world team and European team, you would have said that the European team for England was their second strongest team. But they through the heats they showed to France that you know they were definitely up there with them. Um it took France to France a bit longer to get together I think than I expected. They they’ve written to well I would have thought they’d written together quite a bit. But but do you think is that that is impression to the outside but they were always going to get it together when it mattered? Well, there was rumors because that’s definitely the question that I have going into next week, world team championship because for me now I have the impression that England is the big favorite going into next week from having the impression of last week. But it maybe France was just, you know, turning up the focus and everything. Yeah. towards the final and then in the end was quite dominant on their win. But uh I I I hear some rumors were going around. So no I um yeah I heard some rumors there was a bit of unrest in the Fran French camp um fewer riders clashing which let’s just fortunately it was they were had Europeans first and then worlds so they’ll probably have jelled perfectly now. Um and after getting that win, yeah, they’ll be primed for for world teams. Yeah. Know what I have have you ever been on on on a like a long trip where in the beginning of the trip you you have kind of a fallout within the team. Have you ever experienced that? Uh I’ve ridden a world teams where two of the riders wouldn’t speak to each other. That was um interesting. We actually I think we won that one. So maybe it worked for us in the end. But yeah, we had um two riders that were great friends for years had a falling out. I traveled the whole way over to Denmark and they wouldn’t speak to each other in the front of the truck. But it just shows Yeah. It just shows that when people are ultra competitive and you’re all there with the same goal that you can just get over kind of your differences. Yeah. Yeah. And put the team first. Yeah. But um so obviously most of the people are looking towards the front of the the field and that would would have been England and France. I I I would think the most boring competition in the opens was for Sweden because they were in the middle and nothing happened. But going into the last race, position four, five, and six was still not decided. So there was it was definitely a lot more entertaining for the riders in that competition as well. Yeah, because looking looking back two years ago, you had the Europeans in in England. Uh and and I think three years ago or four years ago, you you had it in Wales. Uh and and England was winning the one in chapto by so many points in the end that it was really wasn’t very entertaining. Yeah, the f you want the finals to be entertaining. You want everyone wants to get down, watch the final, the second part of it anyway. And you need something to play for. And to be fair, so like with my assoc, sorry, my assessment of of of that new rule is that they got that one point on. It’s spot on. Um because now if we would be looking into the other age groups, they were all down to the last race as well. Yeah. So So that really really worked well. Um it got because if if you would just delete all the points, there would not really be a point of writing the heats any at all, you know. Uh, and this gives you a little bit of motivation, but not you don’t need really to go very hard in the sessions, which is tough on the ponies if you have to go like six finals, but you know, it gives you a little bit of an edge and maybe like just a from your mental position, it’s better when you’re performing well and you know, okay, I have two or three points in the lead going in. then you know then then you have a bit of a better feeling. So yeah, I guess we will see that system again. Yeah, I think definitely will hopefully not. Hopefully we get enough entries that you don’t need to rely on it. But um I think it might encourage more to people to go actually because I know in the past I would have been put off by it just being a one heat competition the whole way through and it might put teams off from actually entering in the first place. Yeah, that’s very true. That’s very true. But like just an overall sum summary is it that team competition could have been a bit of a disaster with all the age groups just being one heat with the decision of the was actually quite a good success I think. Yeah, I think so. I agree. Um so Lukan obviously the team was uh the biggest part of the competition and uh there was no Irish team winning. I think uh I think it was Wales, England, Wales and France. So quite international. Uh but then coming into the individuals it was uh uh France, England, England uh and then the last the last competition of the of the last competition but the last final of all of them uh you got the Irish winner over the line. Finally we got one in the one we seem to be good at that one. So obviously I I I I like to talk about all the age groups, but if we start start at the opens, um so Jamie Revy won the final. Uh and and there was a fun fact brought out just before the final that uh all the horses in that European Championship final would have been trained and trained and bred in Ireland. Um which is very very impressive. Do you do you have any idea where that is coming from? Because that is not a coincidence, you know, that that that there’ll be a re reasons behind that. Um I don’t know. I know. Look, horses are readily available in Ireland. There’s a massive amount and there was in the past. It’s not as easy now as when we were started off, but you used to be able to pick courses up for very cheap. Um, for us to compete in the UK, we had to put a lot of time and money into it. And one of the only ways to really keep it going was to sell to train and sell horses. Um, most of us would have grown up riding horses our whole life. So naturally, you kind of move on to training your own. There wasn’t a really ownies don’t get sold really in Ireland, you know, there wasn’t any big money in it. So you had to go abroad to sell them. So I don’t know if that had a factor in it to kind of just encourage us to keep breeding more and more and training more. But then I mean yes I get that idea but then there would be horses in England too and France and Italy but it’s still the Irish horses bought by the English that are coming to Ireland to compete and those would be the horses that dominate the competition. So, what what do they have or like what what do you think makes them great from a I don’t know fanatic uh point of view and how they grow up and also the way that you train them maybe in comparison to how everybody else trains them. Yeah, probably is. Look, raceh horses in Ireland are have have always been very successful. Um, if you compare Ireland to the UK, you know, good look at Cheltenham every year, you’d have far more Irish winners, um, in in a competition in England. So, they they must be very well bred. And I think it’s just you’re encouraged to we all learned how to ride, you know, from the basics. A lot of us did drenting, show jumping and before we even got near games. So we have most of the Irish that trained them had a very good um basis to go off of. Yeah. And we prided ourselves on it. We always wanted to, you know, at the pride of training your own horse um homemade and Now obviously it’s a fact that it was eight arrow choices. Um but another fact is that again the winner of the competition is a rider that has trained his own horse. And if you look back last year, Florian trained his own horse. Alena trained her own horse. Did you ruin that fact? Yes. But this would be but this would be going back to 2018. All the way back to 2018 and and um I don’t know who won in 2019. 2019 was I can’t even think where it was in 2019. Oh, Peter Peter in Ireland. So he did ruin that as well, but he was Yeah, we did a lot of work on Muffin. But so so going back all the way to 21, the last five years, this competition was won by a person that had at least done most of the training. Yeah. Uh of the horse that he was winning on. Um even though obviously there were a lot of very talented horses in in in that final. So, you know, that that’s a story in itself, right? Yeah. Because because obviously it seems like you can buy a good horse and a little bit, you know, you can buy your way towards success, but in the end, uh, doing it yourself is rewarded if if you’ve got the skills, you know, and and you you were one of those people. You won this in 2017 on a pony. uh bred in in Ireland trained by your yourself and your mom. Um so obviously there’s got to be reasons behind that as well. What do you think is the benefit from you know training your own horse when it comes to the big finals, you know? Um I suppose you really get to put your stamp on the horse on how you ride. You know, if you’re jumping up onto another horse, you do have to adapt a lot of the time on how the horse has done it in the past or, you know, they have certain quirks where look at your own horse. You could you’ve had years and years of training it before, you know, Izzy, I had a I had Izzy from a three-year-old. So, you know, you you get a lot of I was training her to do exactly the way I wanted to do games. And by the time it got to when I was competitive, she was um yeah, she she was well on her way to doing that. And maybe it’s also maybe it’s also be that that when you’re training the horse to do it like you you can you can not only make like produce the horse you the way you want it but you can also take care of whatever the horse needs while you go along. Uh and obviously knowing the horse from a young age will help you to know you know all all the small details that you need to know in order to get the horse to perform well like from a physical standpoint as well. So I saying that performance horses they they do have a lot of stress. So like uh I don’t know whether it’s 80 or 90% of race horses have ulcers and other ponies are quit biting and um so knowing your horse well and giving in the best circumstances is important. So for them to feel well and obviously the better they feel the better they can perform, right? Yeah. So, so anyway, like Jamie won that final on on his pony that he has trained. Um, I I was watching the final from the live stream, so I didn’t get everything, but it was a very uh very messy final with a lot of mistakes and um at towards the half halfway stage, it looked like Patrick was going to win it. Uh and and then on the second to last race, he kind of got one point in in VC, which was exactly what Jamie needed to to win the competition even before the last race. Uh having three three mistakes himself. Uh and um I was um I was on my own in the flat and my neighbor came to see me whether it was okay because he could hear me screaming and yeah. So, how how did you experience that final? Yeah, like you said, it messy. It was very messy. Um, firstly, I was gutted for Sam. He would have really shook things up with um boy getting injured before that. It would have been a I think it would have been a very competitive final with him in it. Um, and I think if Jamie made the mistakes he did early on, Sam wouldn’t have let him back in. No. And and and it’s like um in fighting you say style styles make fights in in in mountain games. It’s like the really the personalities that are in in the competition. Um yeah, they they change the character of a final. And I could like I could feel it myself when I was in the final. The people around me would act differently to when I wasn’t in the final. Uh yeah, and and and and that’s just, you know, they they might go a little bit faster, they might go a little bit different or they react to you and the way Sam was playing in the session. So I think that that would have been the case for me. It doesn’t mean he would have won anyway. It just means uh the the d the the dynamic of the final would have been different. Um yeah, no, it definitely would have been. Um yeah, not at all saying that Sam would have won. I think Jamie would have written differently or he would have um yeah, I don’t think he would have made the mistakes. I think Jamie was very confident going into that and at times that plays on you whether he was a little bit tentative or I didn’t like to me he didn’t live look overly confident but very determined. Yeah. you know, when when he would have been in the semi-finals in France, um he he sometimes looked a little bit like as he sat flat, but um there was no impression of feelings to the outside, you know, he would just do his own thing, calm as he is. Whereas this week in Ireland, he he looked like a very determined person. Even even though there was a mistake, he had his vision of what’s going to happen in front of him. He wouldn’t let that go away. Uh and probably that give him the confidence to after a bad race to attack the next race. You know, you know that yourself that sometimes you have a bad first race. you would probably tell your your riders in in the teams that you train the next phrase, you know, just take it easy to get back into a rhythm and and and and that I find very impressive with how Jamie did it. He he would not rest but he would go directly back to the attack which sometimes is a problem because you know having a second mistake and then kind of you lose everything and I I find that was very impressive how he went from to one point or two points in the first race to go seven and eight in the next few races. Yeah. So and and it was very enjoyable to to watch the joy that he had. Yeah. It it was uh it was pure, you know, it was uh pure happiness and I think it was probably also great to have that Irish winner in England in Ireland just you know for the atmosphere for the people watching from the side and that was great. Yeah, you can see how much it meant to him and how much he put into it. Like I know Jamie, he’s been very very determined um since coming back from from traveling. Definitely. He’s put everything into it. I think more than any Irish writer has ever put into it and and as he’s we had him on the on the podcast two days ago and and and he he spoke about what he put in and and also the yeah the pain that he felt from from defeat and then the release of all you know all the thoughts that go through your head when you actually get it over the line. Um you had trained one of the horses that was in the final jolly ridden by Mitch and I was uh like I was surprised kind of how bad he did in the sessions but I did spot a lot of good things about that because he was he was accepting that he wasn’t ready for the competition that’s what it looked like to me and he he knew that he was always good enough to kind of make the next step. So, he kept calm and he took his time for him and the pony to find the rhythm. And then towards the semis, you could you could see that he was starting to become serious and I think would he would he had have proper preparation for the competition? I think Mitch would have really been in the race to win. Uh, how did you experience uh M Mitch’s performance on your pony on your own pony? And how did you experience obviously watching your pony in the final as well? Um, he didn’t have the ideal runup to the competition and Anky just went into it wanting to build. He went into the first session, he took it easy, and each session he stepped up a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. And by the time he came to the semis, he still hadn’t really pushed on Charlie at all. Um, and then he he kind of just rode smart again in the semis. Didn’t try overdo anything. Just kept building on it. Um, and then he started off the final pretty good. He end I think he ends up with the vaults weren’t great. Charlie and he did that to me before in that arena. Um kind of was drifting out on the vaults just slightly into the next lane but wasn’t running fully. I think he might have had that in his head that he he mightn’t run perfect for the vault. Um I think he was he had the high low go down which he would have scored probably a seven or an eight in it but he he got back into it. I was I was very happy. He um I think he knows that he’s got the right pony under him now. Did he have the best horse in in the final? Um best trained horse? No, I don’t know. He’s um he has a lot of still things still to tidy up and he he’s getting used to Charlie more and more. There’s some incredible horses in there. I couldn’t say the best, but um I think Mitch is the can get the best out of him. And once he gets that vault tidied up, I think he’ll be in serious contention in individuals. And I um just before we finish on Mitch, I you know, Mitch was you tell Mitch is a a winner of all the world championships that are available. No, he won the triple crown. One of two people, Elaine Trevor Jones and Mitch won world individuals, world pairs and world teams in a year. And he’s won multiple world teams and and players after. So he he knows what it feels like to win. And I I like even though you don’t go into the competition in the best position once you feel you have the opportunity and you come so close you know even if it’s eight points in the end or you know it’s close because you have to bring a horse to the competition first which is a you know looking at everything that you need to do in order to win something. all all the steps. Getting into the final is already very very close to winning basically. And then and then having the horse that can do it and yourself being in position to do it, you can really see the the how upset he was because he had felt he has a real chance to win. And you you have felt that. And I mean I don’t enjoy people you know being upset but I think right away you could see in his tame the motivation was already coming you know. Yeah, say this this this will help him to have the motivation to go again like Jamie did for 10 years a and try to get that that win on on Charlie uh eventually already next year, you know, that was I I could tell I could tell this obviously he was upset with with how it then ended, but you he was also kind of a little bit happy with how how well it went, you even from a bad position. Yeah. No, I think he was a bit unsure. It I think that was his first comp individual competition on Charlie. And you don’t really know how the horse is going to perform at individuals until you’re in it. You know, there’s a lot of different elements of individuals that you don’t experience at all in teams or or pairs. Um so I think he was surprised with you know turning back out up the will to keep running um the stress levels from starting over and over again. Um I think he he was he could see that um that pony is capable and and and he now knows you know he now knows you know which is which is a good thing. So it’ll push him on big time. Yep. So, uh, is there anything else to talk about in the opens? Maybe maybe we need to to give Craig Okconor a small shout out. I get a horse in there. I I I said to don’t know who I was like. It was like watching from the first race, you know, you could just tell there’s levels to this game and Craig Oconor is, you know, one of the best ever do it and it was just small little things. He was on a very very new pony, like very green. It It was definitely not competitive. like it’s a really good horse but no experience whatsoever. But he somehow with small details was able to always kind of get the points he needed to get very far in the competition and it was starting with a small detail like he made people run over the line so many times. Yes. I like I was watching it. I was like oh not again. and he’s like just standing there and and maybe he didn’t know I don’t know whether you noticed but it was always in races where he needed that advantage to somehow get over the line with good points and that was very impressive to see alongside all the other good stuff that he kind of did you know to make it to the semis staying on the horse over the line at sword that was yeah for example uh there’s a few more yeah I’d say out takes that we have from him falling off or jumping poles and uh and and also shout out to the uh family Fiona Kate uh and Craig they had three horses trained from their yard in the semi-final with Sparky Spot and Na so that is a very very impressive fact as well. Yeah. Um then obviously the semis was a bit too much for the pony I guess. Yeah, he actually went better in the semis, I think, than in the sessions. But Craig knew going into that semi-final that the final would be too much for the horse. Even if he made it, I think he would have ruined the horse. Um, so part of him I think it was the ideal situation that he got close but didn’t make it in. Yeah. And and how do you like the horse? Oh, it’s amazing horse. It It is green. Um, and you could see it has everything. Its head is very very level for a horse that’s I think it’s been in the ring about four times. Yeah. And and that’s including trotting up and down it being uncompetitive. I think it’s maybe done one competitive competition. So there was things like rushing into the turn um that it was like he was losing all his time on turns. The horse is well able to turn. Once he got the first turn done, it was fine. He could turn back up perfectly. Um that session he fell off with, he got a bit too strong. So Craig just had to survive. Just do whatever it to do. It it’s sometimes obviously when the horses don’t have the ring time, they don’t have the muscles areas. And and with this one, it looked like when it would enter the turn fast, it didn’t have the strength to finish the turn. Whereas as as once it was in the turning of the individuals, yeah, the turns really looked like pretty good. So, but he could Yeah, it’s pretty incredible on a young horse to be able to not say push it, but uh but open it up for a gallop and then the next race he could they would just stand on the line chilled everyone else 10 yarded. Yeah. And this is after break hasn’t probably even sat on a horse for two years. I don’t think he sat on a horse since world teams in Australia. Yeah. And even then, he hadn’t sat in a horse in probably six months before that. Yeah. It’s just some people that have a little bit more talent than others. I guess I was I I wasn’t gifted like this in no way. Okay. So um obviously the opens open individuals was the last competition of the of the of the Europeans. Uh the under 18 came before that. Um under 18s was won by Cody Beaches. Um we had said in our pre- competition show that we believe that that Cody was the big favorite. Um just from watching him ride in the world individuals. Um how how did you uh experience the under 18s? What what stood out for you? Um it was very competitive a very high standard which I didn’t I didn’t think it’ be as high as it was. Um, I just think everyone performed, especially in the final, the performance of I I trained one of the Irish kids in the final and there was two or three races where, you know, he just took a little bit of pace off for the equipment and he was getting two or three points. I was thinking, this doesn’t happen really. Um, and nearly every race was like that. there was you’re probably only talking about one or two mistakes in each race. So, um for Cody to to score as high as he did just showed the the talent he has in the beginning of the final he was not running away at all because Alfie was um up there with him. But um to me, and this is not really the surprise, uh the pony was getting pretty tired quite early in the final. Uh and once he felt that his p was a bit off, like a little bit of Yeah. You know, it was stressing him a little bit maybe. Uh and but to be fair, it’s a it’s a very experienced older horse and and he he would be kind of a big rider uh needing to step up. So it was a big performance by the horse to you know to get there and to be able to actually push him because in the beginning of the competition or the beginning of the final uh Alfie would have the speed over Cody. He was faster then you know halfway through the energy just went down and I think then Alfie had a disaster in litter and then was over from then. Yeah, like to think I think he must have only dropped over four points coming into litter and then that shows one big mistake. He got one and that was it. Gone. I think I think Cody was banking on that. He was he was banking on Alfie having a bad race and um where it worked. And this it shows like you wouldn’t necessarily expect that type of games IQ from a writer that age to have the confidence go in there with a game plan and just stick with it. It’s uh it’s very high level kind of. Yeah. And and I was I was but I didn’t say I was going to say but I didn’t say that had only one writer been able to execute Cody strategy in the opens he would have won definitely. I’m not saying Cody would have won the opens you know because to be fair like the level of speed and the quality of horses is a little was a little bit higher. But John Hamilton for example, actually to be fair, John Hamilton was able to kind of execute that game plan um with the difference that Cody would have been in his final with one of the best horses whereas John was definitely a little bit off the pace. So John Hamilton two races or three races to go was still in the race for winning. Then then I don’t know whether he had too many mistakes. I don’t think, but I think he was just off the pace too much to to then keep up with with Jamie in the end. Yeah. Very impressive ride by John. Yeah. No, definitely. So um yeah, but um I I think um you didn’t see under 18 world individual final where Cody was up against Filipo Teresco and that was uh that was very a very interesting rivalry and it’ll be interesting to see how how that turns out when they meet again because they are both uh like a young age in the under 18. I think they both have two more years, right? Uh so very very interesting and and it just shows you know how good the Italian guy was being able to beat Cody quite quite comfortably in in in the world individuals. Um yeah it was nice to see in the under 15 have an English winner and then and French winner in the London 12. Uh I guess he would have been the crowd’s favorite. Yeah so on his uh small chestnut. Um, how how was the atmosphere in in in in those individual finals? Was it I mean because it it seemed like there was a lot of support especially from the French and the English and the Irish. Yeah, there was the under 12. There was a massive support from the French. The French all week were um were incredible. They were they were getting behind every team, every rider there. And there wasn’t a massive amount of them there, but they were behind every single one, which is great to see. Um yeah, in the under 15s that was a very clinical performance that um she’d been well all year. I think she just Yeah. topped it off there. Yeah, we were um obviously uh cheering for Nila and uh when we had our pre- competition show, I didn’t know she didn’t bring her own horse. Uh, and to be able to pull off what she did on on a B pony again after winning two years ago on a B pony, uh, it just shows, you know, the the talent that that Nila has to be fair. There was no way she was going to beat Megan because her performance was was really, as you said, very clean, very nice pony as well. But it’s uh it’s for for me as a German, it’s good to see, you know, that kind of level or quality talent in a rider. Gives us hope that one day maybe Germany can can win that world team title or maybe Europeans again. You going to come out of retirement. Well, I got to come out of bed first, but it’s a very long way. Um no, but um yeah, so a lot of happiness for a lot of different countries. So I was a bit um No, I was about to say I was just a bit disappointed at how the there was some tactics. Uh I don’t know if it was tactics probably was both the 18 individuals and opens. Um I’d say from an atmosphere point of view died out a bit towards the end of the finals. They just dragged on. I’d know what it was like from um the live stream. I’ve watched a lot of live stream in the last couple of years and there’s nothing worse than things taking ages. You’re sit there between races, you don’t know what’s going on and it just drags on and on. Um there was some deliberate slow play from from the the two of the writers. I think it does need to be stamped out. Yeah, I think you know, um I I I know where you’re coming from. Um doing what we do as mounted game studio, uh would you know, kind of point in a similar direction because the and this is not only as a spectator or but I think also from an organizer point of view. Uh it’s just a problem when when you have a schedule um during the week and you cannot rely on how long it will take to run a session or a race. Um and now as you mentioned this could be because somebody’s you know taking his time as a tactic. Um but you know there’s another root cause or a cause of origin is when we have uh referee decisions. Yeah. So we have and I I believe now you are in the ref committee so you obviously you have the the tools to um approach that I would call it issue. Um the referee decisions back before we had video checks where you would have a ref and he would come up and say I have seen this and then a decision would have been made. Then along the way we started to appear things. So he would have a ref making uh the claim then or assistant ref claiming he saw something. He would have a discussion with the ref. Then the ref would take the decision. Then the writer hears the decision, appeals. The ref is going back to the assistant ref has a discussion, takes a decision, and that’s final. And then and this was already taken a lot of time. But now you add in, you have a ref claiming he saw something, talks to the ref, the ref takes a decision or watches the video and takes a decision. Then you have the appeal. Then the ro ref goes back to speak into the assistant ref or to the vir. And this can just lead to a race effectively taking 10 to 15 minutes. The worst case scenario is the trainer or the writer doesn’t understand what the ref has decided. And from an organizer position, it’s impossible to run those competitions without knowing you know with maybe plus or minus 5 minutes how long a session is going to take. uh with the process that we have right now. I think it fundamentally needs to change. Um I don’t have the greatest idea yet. I think I have an like a a start of the idea how it should go, but I think the the process, you know, the steps that you go through, they need to be different. And and and because now that we have the video, I feel like the refs are not coming and reporting I have seen this. Yeah. But they are coming and saying I believe I have seen this. And this is I I think we really need to kind of find a way back to the ref has seen this and then we take a decision and whatever process we are running on we need to make a decision within a certain amount of time. Yeah. Whether that is 4 minutes, whether that is 5 minutes. But if if this pro if this sport wants to grow uh and I would say become professional in any way shape or form uh we need to have a a guarantee for how long is the session going to take. Yeah. And this is just for the organizer because there I could tell on on the Tuesday and Wednesday you were getting on a real pressure finishing in the in the light conditions. Yeah. Uh but as you said from an entertainment position, if you want to bring Mounted Games into national TV and you want to have sponsorships and you have breaks of 10 minutes in between races, obviously not all the races, but there are championships where you have those breaks every two races, it it’s it’s not possible to to present the sport in an entertaining way. No, it’s not at all. Yeah. Nobody’s going to wa an outsider isn’t going to watch and they’re going to be thinking, “What’s going on? Why is it taking so long?” Without putting some sort of entertainment on in between, it’s not going to work. Um, and yeah, we do need to look at the referee, the video checks. The system they have in place now is much better. Um, than they have had for previous years. I think you might be able to do something with the assistant refs. It’s simple like a walkie talk. Explain to me like explain to me. Yeah, walkie-talkie obviously would kind of work uh to to to get the communication quicker, but talk to me like give me an argument why you should be able to appeal a decision that ref has made of watching video. A lot of I noticed this at the individuals a lot of the time the refs weren’t checking the video initially. They were taking the assistant referee and at one point I think the assistant I was stood beside the assistant referee when they and I spoke to them before they went up and they said I think it was an obstruction um but I’m unsure and they said the same to the ref and the ref said no we’ll eliminate them if they want to appeal they’ll appeal and then we’ll check it in my mind that’s the wrong idea the wrong way of doing it. Yeah, you should if somebody I think straight away we need people in checking those videos that are more aware of what not to saying that they’re not aware, but they need to be they should be checking that video before as soon as the flag is raised. I’d say 70% of the time you’ll probably be able to tell what it was or where what area of the field it was in. So, they should be checking that video straight away. And by the time the ref comes back, they should have either made a decision for them or have the video there to show. And well, so what’s coming up to my mind is is like, you know, if the ref would be connected in a sound system, the the ref that is checking video would be around in the sound system and he could hear right away what the assistant ref is uh claiming to the ref. They could directly go and check. Yeah, that would probably speed up, you know, uh processes a little bit. But now I I’m asking the question like in terms of capacity and infrastructure, we can do that with one arena, but I don’t I don’t think has the capacity to do that on multiple arenas. Like you could have that standard in one ring. Maybe if you put a lot of effort and capacity and people into it, you’d be able to provide that to two arenas, but never three. So I wonder whether we are kind of getting ahead of us a little bit, you know. Yeah, I think it needs looking at I think um I think there just needs to be a conscious effort to keep things as fast as possible like like that one in the on the seven on the 18s and the opens. It was just intentional arena party being slow and then the rider stood at the back of the ring waiting for the whistle to blow and then walk up slowly. So you’re still you’re losing probably 30 seconds from the time the arena party is finished. You have some arena party sprinting out there to try to get it quick and within Highland all week screaming at everyone to tell them to hurry up. But um now you’ve been in the final yourself and I mean if you’re allowed to do it to get an advantage, we’ll do it right. Oh, I completely understand why they did it. Um, I think it’s the the referees should stamp it out straight away and it wouldn’t be hard to stop them. Yellow card. Yeah, I I saw it from race one in the opens. I saw it from the first race. I knew and I actually But you you did see it on the arena party in the beginning, right? Because that’s what I saw from the live stream. I was like, “Come on, guys.” And and I I I it came to the point where I was thinking like, guys, I know you’re trying to get an advantage there, but is that advantage going to be better than having the ref against you? I Yeah, I saw it in because I was in the ring with the 18s and noticed about three or four races in what they were doing. Um and then in the opens, the exact same tactic came out after the first race. And when there’s three arena party doing equipment, all young boys doing it, they’re fit enough to to get across the ring quick enough, but they were Yeah. dragging their heels. But, uh, hats off to the ref to keep himself together because, yeah, it especially when the stakes are high and I believe that it’s for the for the referee like getting those riders to enter the race to start the race in a fair way is difficult. So there’s a bit of tension there. Anyway, and then having all those plays as well. I don’t know if you remember, but this is like long time ago when Danny Spencer won his world individuals. He won it from where like the ref he Danny would just as soon as the flag would kind of go up, he would just start the race. I’d say it was even before the flag even moved, he was going. He would just he would just go turn back up. As soon as he had turned around, he’d go again. Yeah. And the ref just never got away with it. And this and this was before before they were entering the box, right? So this this was before they were entering the box because he would just blow the whistle and then go flag up and down and and this this won him the championship. Yeah. He wouldn’t have won without that. Um, and I can’t blame the the writers or trainers for for trying the their tactic. Um, yeah, but again, if you I mean, about the arena party, there’s not so much you can do as a ref. Uh, but uh just looking towards the direction of struck, if you’re not on the line when the flag goes up, you’re not on the line. It’s all problem solved. And there’s not nothing complicated that needs to be implemented. is just to copy how they do it. Simple. Yeah, the arena party it’s going to be too difficult to supply arena party for the whole arena. Um yeah, but I mean if if the extent of what they’re doing is just too much, you can yellow card them as well. Like I think they should probably should look at and and the yellow card for the arena party would be the yellow card for the rider kind of, you know, the same. Yeah, I think they should. Yeah. or bring in another card, whatever. They just need one warning would stop them straight away. If you’re at risk of losing eight points, nah, you’re not going to do that. You’re going to be squeaky clean for for the rest of that final. And and I think obviously in any sport or wherever in life you are, overregulation isn’t great. So, you know, we need like very simple, very straightforward lines of how we do it. You can see if a rule becomes complicated, it’s not a good rule. Yeah. Yeah. like like with the generous attempt or what it was called. Yeah, genuine attempt. Genuine attempt. We finally got around that one. Yeah. Well done. This is your Yeah. Well done, Jake. So, I think all the Royers are happy with with that how that is going now. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. So, um maybe to to finish off like the overall uh impression of European European Championships, I think a year ago there was rumors whether Ireland was even going to be able to do this competition. Um and looking back one year ago and and what they were able to achieve or what you were able to achieve was very impressive. Uh, and I think people have gone home with with a lot of motivation, with a lot of good memories, and I I I think everybody will be happy when when one day we will be able to come back to Ireland for a European Championship. Yeah, hopefully more teams. Hopefully more teams. Yeah. No, it was a great success. Um, and yeah, the the atmosphere stayed up the whole way through it. So hopefully we’ll be back again to Mil Street. So um obviously this is a post competition show but we have the world championship coming up next week. So I think uh that’s a must talk about a little bit. So we’ve we’ve edged on the on the on the topic a little bit. Um now you are not going but I think you have a good idea of what teams will be like. What what do you think? How how is the world team championship going to turn out? How is it going to be? Um, I don’t know too much about the like the Italy going or the German team. Um, it should be far more competitive. I know the English team is very strong. The Irish team is strong. Um, the French team is very strong. Um, I’d imagine the Italian team will be right up there. Um, so I like what I I I’ve seen the riders and the lineups. So um the Italian team is a is a very very new combination like uh it’s not the usual ones. Um so I would you know it’s they are good riders and especially they have a few riders from from the team that uh won Italian teams. Um I think uh Italy is kind of probably on the same level as Ireland. Um so so my my view is like uh I believe France and England will be there for the win. Um who who do you think has the advantage? I think England do. Um Elellaner has been in top form obviously the world individual. She was very good. Jack and Rory have been riding really well. Sadi has is riding really well. Eddie has come like they’re all actually in good form. Um so that’s so on the on the pace I would say England is well ahead of France. I Yeah, that’s a very very quick team. Yes. I I think if you compare the England Open team to the England European team, the Open team would have a lot lot more pace where the England team put it up to that the England European team really put it up to the French for I think they had them on pace actually. Well, like one thing that was I was very impressed by was Max on the English team. Uh his handovers were like yours. Uh, and he he really when he kind of went into the race, he really his pony to shift and uh, he he made a great impression just from the changeovers and the the speed that he brought in when he went out. Very impressive. Yeah, I think he was the best he’s probably the best rider there, I would have said. Um, he really showed what he could do. Max hasn’t been he probably hasn’t competed on an England team in European or worlds. Um he has in Royal Welsh and stuff like that, but he’s shown that he’s definitely deserving of being there. Yeah, very impressive. So I think what the question probably is going to be is England be able to play clean because I would say they have the speed over the French. Can they keep it clean enough? uh and then in in races like tire and stuff whether they they can keep up with the French. But I think I believe because those two teams will be a little bit stronger than the others, it will probably stay quite tight for the win in any case. Yeah. Like even though one team is a little bit better, it will be very difficult for them to actually separate themselves from from you know whoever is next to them. Yeah. And I think the the competition for the podium for third place is very very interesting to me. I I would I would think the Irish and the Italians would be favorites for me. Uh but then uh the German team, the Swedish team, Danish team, the Belgium team, I think it’s going to be very very competitive to to get into the even to get into the A final for those teams. Yeah. Last year, uh, Colin has, uh, joined team Switzerland as a trainer, and he has really made an impact last year in World Teams. He does have a different team now in in in this one, but I I I would guess he would have them very dialed in, you know, kind of sit back, collect the points, you know, he he he will really get the best out of that team. So, I think this is really going to be an interesting competition in the opens. I’m not too sure about the under 18s. Um, but I would guess that this is going to be very similar to Yeah, I’d say so the opens just with the Italians being in the race as well. So, yeah, very exciting week to to coming up. So, how will you be able to follow this competition? Just uh run through the live stream. Yeah. Yeah, run through the live stream when I can. work it this the the live stream last week um to me ran really well. So uh big shout out to Mads for being able to to improve the live stream and um obviously he will provide the live stream to the Belgium organization. So hopefully that will be a good live stream to watch for everybody next week as well. No, I was very impressed actually. It’s very thankful to Matt. He is he’s done an incredible job. Um it’s very very yourself as well and how you’ve set up um the videos to work in the background. It’s a step in the right direction. We definitely need to keep pushing on and doing more and more. Um yeah, it is it is a bit of a coincidence like now what what I’m doing Matt is doing originally was very different. Like Matt started his project 10 years ago. 10 years ago he started with the scoreboard. Now he was able to kind of really get the benefits out of running a live stream and scoreboard and now my project is very young but obviously it adds on to what he is doing. Yeah. So it gives it gives the viewer a little bit more kind of uh broadcast experience. Now this is very early days but uh next year it will be I I I believe ne we’re putting in an enormous amount of work into this uh both my team and Matt’s and I think uh by the time we’re hitting world individuals next year you’ll be watching sports television like in between the races you will get the reruns of the last race you’ll get the points you get the interview you’ll have the commentator on the live stream, you know, and I think that’s I’m very excited for that. Uh going to be very exciting, but it’s a little bit of work to be done, but I think this this is kind of the beginning. Also live stream being stable. You know, the biggest problem with the live streams in the past has been that they breaking off all the time. Yeah. No, it’s it’s very good. Okay, Jake. Yeah, thank you very much for your insights. Um, hopefully when we will be running World Individuals next year, uh, and obviously going to Champions League, we’ll have you again as a co-host. Uh, this was obviously a lot more enjoyable both being on site. Um, but uh, thank you very much for for being involved. No, pleasure. And thank you also for you know making the Europeans such a great uh event for for everybody because you were obviously in charge of setting up the live stream and giving technical support. So that was great help. Thank you. I tried. Have a good night Jake. Bye. Thanks.