Twomey finishes seventh in Helsinki

CORK’S Billy Twomey rode Romanov II to seventh place in the second leg of the Rolex World Cup Series in Helsinki, Finland yesterday.

The Nottinghamshire-based show jumper was forced to retire with the stallion in Oslo last weekend when the martingale broke, but made the nine-horse jump-off yesterday, with four faults, leaving him equal 12th on the World Cup leaderboard.

Denis Lynch and Lord Luis went out on four faults in round one, while Cian O’Connor (Carpe Diem) retired on 12 faults.

The Irish studbook placed second in the World Breeding Championship for young event horses at Le Lion d’Angers, France, with the best results coming from British riders. Piggy French placed third in the seven-year-old class with the Kiltealy Spring gelding Kiltealy Brief, while Nicola Wilson was fifth with the Newmarket Venture mare Annie Clover.

The best Irish rider was Steven Smith (Good Lux Jack), placing 16th, with Cork’s Brian Morrison 18th on PJ Hegarty’s Fenya’s Elegance.

In the six-year-old class, Briton Tanya Kyle and the Maltstriker gelding Atlantico Domino placed eighth, while Cork’s Austin O’Connor (Kilpartick Knight) was 14th.

In the three-star event at Cameri, Italy, Capt Geoff Curran was fourth with The Jump Jet.