Cian O’Connor second in Million Dollar Grand Prix
The Meath-based rider pocketed $200,000 after his efforts on the 10-year-old stallion Good Luck saw him produce one of just three double clear rounds over a course built by Tipperary man Alan Wade.
For good measure, O’Connor’s student Lillie Keenan place third on Super Sox, a horse he had previously campaigned.
“I’m thrilled. It’s always nice when a plan comes together,” said O’Connor, who finished just off the pace set by Colombia’s Roberto Teran on Woklahoma.
“This was a class I had discussed with Nikki Walker - the granddaughter of my horse’s owner Frank Stronach - back in January and together we felt it would be a great class to aim for.
“Mr Stronach has a large presence in Ocala and does a lot for the local community and that combined with the big prizemoney on offer made it a no brainer,” said O’Connor, who was on the winning Irish team in the recent nations cup in Wellington, Florida, where he has spent the past three months competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival.
“I've been campaigning Good Luck very lightly since he arrived in Florida last November, as I want him to peak later in the summer.
"He's jumped in just three major grands prix since the beginning of the year, and has been clear in all of them, but today's double clear produced the biggest cheque of all.
“Next week is the $500,000 grand prix in Wellington and I will use my nations cup winner Sam Du Challois in that.”
Ireland has just one place in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, won by Bertram Allen.
However, it is the prerogative of the Ireland manager Robert Splaine as to who will travel, a decision that will be mostly influenced by the rider/horse combination that shows the best form in the run-up.
London Olympics bronze medallist O’Connor is hoping to convince Splaine he is the best option, but he will face stiff competition from Allen and the likes of Denis Lynch and Greg Broderick over the next few months.
At the World Cup finals in Gothenburg, Sweden, dressage rider Judy Reynolds said her eighth-place finish yesterday filled her with confidence ahead of the Olympics.
The Kildare native and Vancouver K scored 77.339% in what was the first time Ireland had been represented in the finals.
“It was undoubtedly the biggest atmosphere JP [Vancouver K] has had to deal with and he was a superstar. It fills us with confidence in the run-up to Rio,” said Reynolds, who referenced the “team camaraderie” demonstrated by show jumper Denis Lynch after h loaned her a horse for the prizegiving due to her own horse being a bit of a “nutter” in such circumstances.
Gold went to Dutchman Hans-Peter Minderhoud on Glock’s Flirt.
Lynch, meanwhile, made a dramatic climb up the leaderboard in the battle for show jumping honours on Saturday to lie 10th going into today’s decider.
A slow clear round on Friday with All Star 5 had left him in 22nd place, but the Tipperary rider produced one of just two double clears on Saturday to finish second and improve by 12 places.
Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and the brilliant Taloubet Z were first to go in the seven-horse jump-off and the 16-year-old stallion - who earned him the title on home ground in Leipzig in 2011 - cruised around in 36.85 seconds. Lynch also found the key to the course and, while his 41.42 seconds looked to have left the door open for those to follow, none could leave the fences intact.
Lynch acknowledged his good fortune.
“My horse [All Star] is not a very quick horse, but today I was lucky because my colleagues had fences down, so I finished second. I’ve taken a long time with this horse. I’ve had him since he was six years old and he likes playing around, bucking and messing a lot, so he’s not always that easy, but we know each other really well now and he’s been in great form since December and through January and February, with lots of good rounds,” he said of his 13-year-old stallion.“
Defending champion, Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, heads the leaderboard going into today’s decider after adding a fourth-place finish yesterday to his fifth place in the opening speed class.
In Fontainebleau, France, the Irish eventing team got their season off to a great start when finishing third in the nations cup.
Jonty Evans (Cooley Rorkes Drift), Austin O’Connor (Kilpatrick Knight), Clare Abbott (Euro Prince), and Cathal Daniels (Rioghan Rua) were sixth after dressage on Friday, but jumping clears from the quartet in Saturday’s cross-country elevated the team three places.
Clear rounds in yesterday’s show jumping from Daniels and Abbott, along with four fault scores from Evans and O’Connor, saw Ireland finish on 189.3 penalties to hold off a strong challenge from Australia who had to settle for fourth on 191.6.
