Super Lynch triumphs

SHOW jumper Denis Lynch won the grand prix at the Samsung Super League Show in La Baule, France, yesterday, bringing the curtain down on a great weekend for the Irish.

The Tipperary rider, on board Lantinus, was second to go in a nine-horse jump-off and threw down a gauntlet nobody could pick up.

Only France’s Olivier Robert and Le Galant matched Lynch’s clear round, but he was made to look pedestrian by the German-based Irishman, whose winning time was more than two seconds faster.

“I wasn’t at all sure I was going to win, and I went into the jump-off with the intention of just leaving all the fences up. But the horse is naturally quick and his finishing time put the rest under pressure” said Lynch, who earned €28,000 for his win.

Lynch is on a roll with Lantinus, having won the opening round of the Global Champions Tour in Qatar last month. He also produced a clear round on Friday to secure Ireland second place in the season-opening Nations Cup.

Captain Shane Carey, also had reason to celebrate, notching up a hat-trick at the show on the 16-year-old gelding Killossery to pick up the leading horse award.

In eventing, Louise Lyons finished a creditable 10th place in the World Cup qualifier at Chatsworth, England, scoring 73.8 on Watership Down. Bandon rider Patricia Ryan rode Fernhill Clover Mist to ninth in Section H of the CIC three-star, the Sydney Olympian finishing on 78 penalties.

The eventing high performance committee were scheduled to meet at the fixture on Saturday to select a 10-rider panel and to discuss the possibility of sending a team to the Olympics.

Harry Marshall jumped to the top of the leaderboard in the Citroen Showjumping Ireland Premier Series, when winning the second leg at Barnadown Show in Gorey, Co Wexford, yesterday.

The Antrim rider steered the eight-year-old mare Mandrin Smoke to victory with almost three-and-a-half seconds to spare over second-placed Trevor Breen on Always Cullohill.

Marshall, who also placed third on Audi’s Morningstar with the competition’s only other double clear, leads the series on 11 points, one more than Waterford’s Tholm Keane.

The next Premier Series Grand Prix takes place at Mullingar on June 2.