BERTRAM Allen ensured his long flight to Los Angeles was worthwhile, when he won a thrilling $130,000 Longines Speed Challenge last Friday night. The LA Masters is part of the Longines Masters Grand Slam, which also visits Hong Kong and Paris, with a whopping $1 million in prize money at each venue.

World No 1 Scott Brash had held the lead before Allen entered the arena as second last to jump. The unique competition format sees two seconds added for each fence lowered, however Brash’s excellent round with Hello Annie saw him come home with all the fences intact in what looked an unbeatable time of 58.96 seconds.