European show jumping championships: Ireland have been drawn second of 14 teams jumping in the opening round of the European show jumping championships in Italy this afternoon and Robert Splaine will lead the way, despite the fact his horse has been coughing for the past two days.

The stallion, Coolcorron Cool Diamond, which now jumps with the Clarion Hotels prefix, started coughing on Tuesday after a 20-hour marathon journey to Italy from the French fixture in Vichy where Splaine was campaigning last weekend.

"He's in fantastic form," Splaine said after jumping in a warm-up class yesterday afternoon, "but he's got a cough. The vets are aware of it and they are monitoring him, but we can't really give him anything. The vets are adamant they won't allow it."

Under international rules, medication can be given to treat a horse in competition, but only if clearance has been given beforehand by a member of the official veterinary panel.

"It's at the vet's discretion, but it's not easy in the present climate to use anything. We're hoping that simple old remedies like putting honey on his tongue will shake it," Splaine said. "He's only had it once before in his life and that was in Italy as well a couple of years ago."

Splaine believes a combination of the heat and dust at the San Patrignano showgrounds and the long journey from Vichy have brought on the problem. The horse was competing in temperatures of 37 degrees at the French show and then spent 20 hours travelling in heat reaching as high as 40 degrees. Dusty conditions at the Italian fixture have further exacerbated the condition.

Jessica Kurten, who has probably the best chance of an individual medal, will jump last of the Irish quartet this evening. Kurten will be campaigning her Olympic ride Castle Forbes Maike. The horse was given a lengthy break after the Games and has been tuned to reach top form at these championships.

On her only two-team outings this year the mare has had just one fence down in four rounds.

"My horse is in form and she feels good," Kurten said yesterday. "I just hope that we can all pull together and get a good result here."

Harry Marshall, who finished third in the Vichy Grand Prix last Sunday, runs second in the Irish colours with the talented mare Ado Annie, followed by Dermott Lennon making his first championship appearance since winning individual gold at the world equestrian games in Jerez three years ago. Lennon rides the stallion Condios, which is making its team debut after missing the cut at Rotterdam.

This afternoon's one-round speed counts towards tomorrow's team decider, so three good results are vital. Despite the riders' confidence, and all four were happy after jumping yesterday, a repeat of the 2001 European result when Ireland claimed team gold seems unlikely.

Lennon and Kurten were both members of that golden quartet, but the new chef d'equipe John Ledingham is not optimistic about chances of a medal.

"If we could finish in the top six it would be a great achievement," he said. "It goes through cycles when horses and riders are all performing well together, but we're out of that cycle at the moment. We're just short on horsepower."