LOUTH’S Mark McAuley and Django Ste Hermelle were runners-up in the four-star 1.45m jump-off class at Ascona in Switzerland on Saturday afternoon. From a start list of 34, 13 jumped clear to proceed to the jump-off. It was a close finish, with less than a second separating the top four placings.

McAuley’s time of 36.22 seconds was just shy of the winning time of Switzerland’s Edouard Schmitz on Karel Doorman, who clocked 35.49, while third-placed Bryan Balsiger (SUI) on Fais Toi Belle di Seigneur Pleville finished just 0.05 seconds behind McAuley (36.27) and fourth-placed Rodrigo Sampaio Peixoto on Hipop de Cantraie was another 0.05 in arrears (36.32).

In the ribbons

The four-star show at Ascona was held over the weekend, running from Thursday through until Sunday. McAuley stepped up for the Irish on Friday, when taking fifth place in the four-star 1.45m two-phase class riding the 12-year-old stallion Django Ste Hermelle to a double clear in a phase-two time of 33.12. Laura Kraut’s recent form continued, as she won the class on Lady D in 31.03.

Galway’s Jessica Burke finished on the podium with a third place in the four-star 1.50m speed class riding her faithful partner Express Trend (Future Trend x Condios), owned and bred by Liam Nicholas. The class saw 52 starters, with 25 of them keeping all the fences intact. Burke and the 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding stopped the clock in 60.55 seconds, just over a second behind Swedish winner Douglas Lindelow on Charlie’s Way (59.21) and around half a second behind runner-up Emanuele Gaudiano (ITA) on Vasco 118 (60.03).

Burke and Express Trend then placed fifth in Saturday’s four-star 1.50m two-round class, which saw 22 of the 45 starters record clear first rounds. Just three combinations completed double clear rounds over the challenging track, with the win going to Martin Fuchs (SUI) on L&L Lorde (42.39), ahead of two Brazilians - Joao Victor Castro Aguiar Gomes De Lima on Kenzo Quality Z in second (44.72) and Stephanie Macierira on Novak de Kalvarie in third (46.03). Burke incurred four faults in the second round in a time of 45.37.

Overnight rain on Saturday night led to organisers changing the schedule for Sunday, with classes pushed back in order to allow the arena time to dry.