Caitriona Murphy

IRISH riders made their presence felt at the famous London International Horse Show at Olympia, with David Simpson winning the Alltech Christmas Puissance and Bertram Allen finishing second in the 1.50m speed class.

Simpson (26), who hails from Northern Ireland but is now based in Sussex, last year jointly won the Puissance at the same show and on Thursday night claimed an outright win with the 13-year-old grey mare Richi Rich.

Both Simpson and Belgian challenger Karline De Brabander and Fantomas de Muze made it through to the fourth and final jump-off but only Simpson and his grey mare managed to clear the imposing red wall at 2.20m.

Speaking afterwards, the Irish rider said: “It gives you the tingles when you land. You don’t get a better wall jumper than my horse and, for atmosphere and intensity, this win is right up there as one of my best moments in show jumping. I really wanted my first proper win to be here at Olympia.”

Bertram Allen pulled out all the stops to try and win the Kingsland Christmas Pudding Stakes with Wild Thing L but the 19-year-old Wexford rider was an agonising 0.2 of a second off the pace of winner Maikel van der Vleuten and VDL Groep Eureka.

Simpson and Allen are joined at Olympia’s Christmas show by fellow Irish riders Denis Lynch and Liam O’Meara. The Longines World Cup Grand Prix takes place on Sunday afternoon, while the Olympia Grand Prix is scheduled for Monday night.

Meanwhile, dressage superstars Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro set two new world records at the London show, continuing their remarkable career.

On Tuesday night, the pair produced a world record score of 87.46% in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Grand Prix supported by Horse & Hound. The mark beat their own previous record, set by the World, Olympic and European champions at the World Cup Final in Lyon, France, earlier this year.

On Wednesday night the pair won the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Freestyle, supported by Horse & Hound, and set a second world record in the process. Their freestyle test earned a mark of 94.3% from the judges and was described as “out of this world” by Stephen Clarke, president of the ground jury.

Irish national champion Judy Reynolds scored 68.380% in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Grand Prix and went on to score 70% in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Freestyle.