Rising star Allen takes individual silver in Spain

The rising star of Irish show jumping, Bertram Allen, shone brightly again yesterday when taking the individual silver medal at the Junior European Show Jumping Championships in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain.

On board the grey mare Molly Malone, the Wexford 17-year-old came close to matching the colour of his 2012 European Junior Team gold medal, only to be denied by Italy’s Emanuele Massimiliano Bianchi and Cupido Z.

The pair were among only three to finish on four faults after three rounds over the weekend and went into a decider, with Allen bettering the time set by Lisa Nooren from the Netherlands on Zigo, only for his Italian rival to further reduce the target by almost a second.

Allen also delivered a clear and four in the second team contest, in which he and his team-mates Tom Foley, Jeremy Sweetnam and Michael Duffy finished a creditable seventh of 20 nations.

Meanwhile, Ireland show jumping manager Robert Splaine has named his five-man squad for next month’s European Championships.

Splaine has nominated two of his fellow Corkonians, Shane Sweetnam (Amaretto D’Arco) and Billy Twomey (Tinka’s Serenade), along with Tipperary’s Shane Breen (Balloon), Co Down’s Conor Swail (Lansdowne) and Cameron Hanley (Antello Z). Hanley’s selection sets up another interesting chapter in his career, the Mayoman only having returned to competition in February almost two years after a freak injury nearly ended his career.

Since renewing his partnership with Antello Z, Hanley has impressed with the 10-year-old gelding, notably winning the grand prix in Wiesbaden, Germany, in May, while Swail and Lansdowne pocketed €100,000 when winning the grand prix this month at Spruce Meadows in Canada.

The championships take place at Herning, Denmark, on August 20-25 and are, from an Irish perspective, seen as a test run for next year’s World Equestrian Games, when Olympic qualification will be the goal.

At the Global Champions Tour in Chantilly, France, on Saturday, Denis Lynch placed 14th, posting a second-round score of four faults with the 13-year-old gelding Abbervail van het Dingeshof. The result leaves the Tipperary rider 13th in the GCT rankings, with season’s earnings of €57,460.

Cian O’Connor on Cooper and Jessica Kürten on Vincente failed to get beyond round one, but the former had some consolation in winning two classes yesterday.

O’Connor’s opener came in a 1.45m class on Beverley Widdowson’s 12-year-old gelding Unique, and he followed with victory in the final for seven-year-old horses with his own gelding Gain Line.