1. Ireland’s Bertram Allen and Molly Malone V are poised to pounce in third place heading into the finale, just a single penalty behind joint-leaders Steve Guerdat (Switzerland) riding Albfuehren’s Paille and Rich Fellers (USA) riding the Irish Sport Horse Flexible. Guerdat and Fellers go into the final on zero penalties, while Allen has just one penalty on his sheet.

2. Guerdat, Fellers and Allen all have a fence in hand over their nearest rivals, Penelope Leprevost in fourth place (5 penalties) and the three riders who currently share fifth place: Beezie Madden, Jos Verlooy and Martin Fuchs (6 penalties).

3. Steve Guerdat is the reigning Olympic champion and the youngest son of Olympic show jumper Philippe Guerdat.

4. Only the top 30 riders from the original 41 who qualified for the World Cup will jump in tonight’s grand finale.

5. Allen will be third last to jump of the top 30 riders. After the first round, the top 20 riders will then come back to compete for the World Cup trophy.

6. Both Irish-bred contestants – Bertram Allen and Flexible – are aged 19.

7. Owned by Mollie and Harry Chapman,Flexible was bred by Catherine and Edward Doyle in Co Kildare. The chesnut is by Cruising out of Flex (ISH), by Safari (TB). Flexible has been ridden throughout his competition career by Fellers, while his full sister, Flexing, is ridden by 14-year-old Irish rider Emelie Larkin.

8. Flexible went one better than his sire, Cruising, who was runner-up in the 1999 final at Gothenburg with Trevor Coyle, when he became the only Irish Sport Horse winner to date for Rich Fellers in 2012.

9. Molly Malone V was bred by Keith and Shelly Doyle in Hampshire, England out of their grey Cavalier mare Janaini whom Shelly jumped to 1.20m level on the British circuit. Molly was ridden by two other Irish riders, Billy Twomey and Anthony Condon, before being bought by the Allen family for Bertram to ride.

10. Should Bertram Allen win tonight, he would be the first ever Irish rider to do in the 36-year history of the World Cup. Jessica Kurten finished second in Kuala Lumpur in 2006 on board Castle Forbes Libertina and Trevor Coyle took the runner-up spot in the final at Gothenburg in Sweden in 1999 with Cruising. Eddie Macken was third in the very first World Cup Final in 1979 with Carrolls of Dundalk, also in Gothenburg.

11. Where can you watch it? The only live coverage of the final is available online onwww.feitv.org and costs $26.99 for 24-hour access or $79.99 for a year’s access. There will also be coverage of the Longines FEI World Cup Finals at Las Vegas will be available on Eurosport Channel 410 at 10.05pm Irish time tonight (Sunday).

12. Most importantly, The Irish Field will keep you up to date with a live Twitter feed from Las Vegas, courtesy of Susan Finnerty and Brendan McArdle. #gobertram