WEXFORD’S Bertram Allen was best of the Irish in Sunday’s feature class at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Vienna, the 1.60m Longines GCT Grand Prix, which saw a start list of 40 including some of the best-known names in international show jumping. Twelve combinations jumped clear in the first round to secure their place in the jump-off, with only five going on to keep all the poles standing in round two. Allen and the nine-year-old gelding Qonquest de Rigo were among the double clears and their jump-off time of 42.31 was good enough to secure them a podium place and the third prize of €46,290. The top prize of €101,838 went to Germany’s Philip Weishaupt on Kilmister, who stopped the clock in 40.85, which was over a second ahead of Harrie Smolders (NED) on Monaco, who took second place in 41.96.
Gilles Thomas (BEL) still leads the overall league standings after leg 13 on a score of 261, with Germany’s Christian Kukuk lying second on 206. Denis Lynch is the highest-placed Irish rider at present on 137.2.
Placings
The Longines Global Champions Tour moved to Vienna in Austria over the weekend, with Irish riders in action across various levels of competition. In Friday’s one-star 1.10m small tour class, Ireland’s Olivia Ann Nell on Carte d’Or SDW Z placed fifth after jumping double clear in a time of 36.01. Czech winner Lucie Pavleckova on Charlotte de la Votte Z (33.62) very narrowly beat Isabella Beecroft-Luckett (GBR) on Naldo K, who finished a mere 0.01 seconds behind in 33.63.
While no Irish riders were in contention, the 1.60m GCL second competition saw Austrian Max Kuhner ride the Irish Sport Horse gelding EIC Cooley Jump the Q into second place with a clear round in 75.99, only being beaten by Britain’s Scott Brash on board Hello Jefferson (75.61).
Nell and Carte d’Or SDW Z had another top-10 finish in Sunday’s one-star 1.15m small tour speed class, jumping clear in 66.63. Austria’s Theresa Singer won the class with Espri 4 in a very fast time of 59.21.
Rabat
Meanwhile, a number of Irish riders made the journey to compete at the four-star Nations Cup fixture at the Morocco Royal Tour in Rabat, which ran from September 25th to 28th.
Thursday’s four-star 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier saw Tim Brennan place ninth with Coblue PS with a clear round in 72.86.
In Friday’s 44-strong four-star 1.55m Grand Prix, Susan Fitzpatrick took fourth place on board Lovely Stassi PS with a double clear round in a jump-off time of 44.35. Abdulrahman Alrajhi (KSA) won the class with Heartbeat W in 41.02.
Fitzpatrick finished in the top 10 in Saturday’s four-star 1.50m Winning Round class. Of the 30 starters, just 12 jumped clear in the first round to secure a place in the jump-off, with only five managing to remain clear second time out. Fitzpatrick picked up four faults and had to be content with 10th place.
The main focus of Sunday was the four-star 1.55m Nations Cup, which saw 10 teams lining up. Michael Blake had selected his team as Rhys Williams (Conthanja), Susan Fitzpatrick (Valisco PS), Ethen Ahearne (LVS Goldrush) and Tim Brennan (Diadema Della Caccia), but they were out of luck on the day, when they picked up numerous faults in the first round to finish in 10th place - meaning they did not get the opportunity to jump in the second round.
Saudi Arabia took first place on a final score of four penalties, followed by Italy in the runner-up spot on 12 and Great Britain in third place on 14.