Irish show jumpers gear up for Lyon

By Mike Dunne

Six Irish show jumpers head to France this week for the five-star fixture at Lyon which includes a round of the FEI World Cup.

Bertram Allen, Anthony Condon, Richard Howley, Darragh Kenny, Denis Lynch, and Mark McAuley fly the flag in what is the fourth European leg of the series.

There is also an American round taking place in Lexington, Kentucky with Ireland represented by Lorcan Gallagher, Cormac Hanley, Conor Swail, and Shane Sweetnam.

Bertram Allen hauled 13 World Cup points out of a tough Verona round at the weekend after finishing fourth with Molly Malone. The Wexford rider was the youngest-ever winner at the venue in the 2014 round at the age of 19 when he also partnered Molly. A repeat looked a possibility when he took the lead in the jump-off, dashing Italian hopes of a home win when overtaking Luca Marziani and Tokyo du Soleil.

However the world championship silver medal pairing of Switzerland’s Martin Fuchs and Clooney got home faster when next to jump, and subsequent efforts by both runner-up Neils Bruynseels of Belgium on Gancia de Muze and Germany’s Daniel Deusser, who won with the last round of the day on Calisto Blue, left the Irish rider having to make do with fourth place.

Allen now lies in 13th position on the European division points table after what was his first appearance in the series this season. He also brings Molly to the Lyon round along with Izzy By Picobello.

Denis Lynch is the only other Irish rider to have registered on the European leaderboard having collected 10 points for a seventh-place finish with The Sinner in the opening round in Oslo three weeks ago.

That puts him in a share of 20th place in the European standings with Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum. The top 18 from this division at the end of the 13 rounds will qualify for the final in Gothenburg next April. The current table-topper is Hans-Dieter Dreher of Germany with 28 points, six ahead of France’s Kevin Staut. Lynch didn’t score in the second round in Helsinki a fortnight ago but he will have his third shot in this weekend’s round to which he brings The Sinner and RMF Bella Baloubet.

The Lyon round will see the first appearances at a World Cup meeting this season for Anthony Condon and Richard Howley.

The fixture also includes a round of the FEI Pony Jumping series, with Ireland represented by Charlotte Houston (Toscane Davnir), Seamus Hughes Kennedy (Rock Dee Jay), Ella Quigley (Clemens 43), Max Wachman (Cuffesgrange Cavalidam) and Tom Wachman (Ocean Des As).

In the American division Shane Sweetnam lies in sixth place ahead of this week’s Lexington round. The Cork rider collected another 13 points for his fourth place finish on Indra van de Oude Heihoef in the Washington round last Saturday night, bringing his total up to 23 so far. Conor Swail is 10th in the American standings with 17 points.

The Washington round was won by Beezie Madden on Breitling LS, but the American rider will only have been eyeing up the prize money as she has already her ticket booked to the final by virtue of being the defending champion.

Kevin Babington (8) and Cormac Hanley (7) are also on the American points table.

US-based Limerick rider Paul O’Shea finished off the month-long Fall Series in Tryon, North Carolina at the weekend by winning the three-star Grand Prix on Saturday night with Skara Glen’s Presence. It followed two successive Grand Prix runner-up finishes in the preceding weeks.

As if to prove his consistency, O’Shea took second as well on Saturday with Imerald van’t Voorhof. “They’re both very good horses and they’ve been going really well,” he said.

O’Shea said he would give both mounts a rest until the Winter Equestrian Festival gets underway in Florida in January. “They’ll start back in WEF again and do some smaller classes and build back up. I’ll see how they feel rather than say they’ll jump week two at the Grand Prix. If they need smaller classes to build back up we’ll take it week by week.”

At home Paul Carberry and Brandonview First Edition won the TopSpec Autumn Grand Prix at Kilossery Lodge on Sunday evening ahead of Patrick Hickey and Quandurina, the only other combination to go double-clear in the event. “I’m over the moon,” the former racing star said after what was his second league win of the season. “I’ve been knocking on the door a lot over the last couple of years. It’s been brilliant today.”

Jordan Coyle and Chuckles topped the bank holiday Monday round at Portmore with two seconds to spare over Louis Delplace and Lowhill Showdown.