Grand prix win rounds off good weekend for O’Connor

CIAN O’CONNOR’S education of Rancorrado took a big step forward yesterday when he steered the 10-year-old gelding to victory in the grand prix at Chantilly, France.

The Meath-based 28-year-old had half a second to spare in taking his second win at the four-star show in which he was also named leading rider.

O’Connor, who lines out for Ireland in the Samsung Super League final next Sunday, had a comfortable win with Dermot O’Rourke’s eight-year-old mare Baloufina in the medium tour speed class on Saturday, but was kept off the top in yesterday’s speed class by France’s Eugenie Angot on Ilostra Dark.

Captain Shane Carey also picked up the leading rider accolade at Prague in the Czech Republic.

The Limerick rider won yesterday morning’s speed class with Cashla Bay and also took the young horse final with Ringwood Abbey.

On Saturday, the 30-year-old was two-seconds off the pace to place second with River Foyle in the grand prix qualifier.

In the penultimate leg of the Global Champions Tour in Arezzo, Italy, Jessica Kürten went out of contention in round one when finishing on eight faults with Castle Forbes Libertina. The performance saw the German-based 38-year-old slip to 27th in the GCT standings and, with only the top 25 qualifying for next month’s €1m final in Sao Paolo, there are doubts as to her participation.

Limerick rider Paul O’Shea had a successful outing at Pinerolo, Italy, rounding off his visit with a third in yesterday’s grand prix on Paul Clarke’s Cavalier-bred Shannondale Macalla.

Earlier yesterday, he finished runner-up in an accumulator with Daydream St Ghyvan Z, having on Friday won the grand prix qualifier with the same horse. He had another second place in a qualifier with Shannondale Macalla.

Francis Connors was declared the ShowjumpingIreland Grand Prix League winner at Boswell Equestrian Centre on Saturday, as Tholm Keane again had to settle for second place.

Last month, Keane finished runner-up in the Citroen Premier Series and on Saturday he failed to overcome Connors’s one-point lead, as neither made it through to the jump-off.

Victory on the day went to Nicola Fitzgibbon with Puissance.