DENIS Lynch and the 11-year-old gelding Mr Boombastic finished on the podium in the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Paris on Saturday. Forty combinations took on the challenging five-star 1.60m track, with only seven of them jumping clear in the first round to book a place in the jump-off.

Round two saw the challenge intensify, with all but three incurring penalties. Lynch and his mount were among those to jump flawless double clear rounds, with their careful time of 52.70 seconds securing third place. The class was won by Belgium’s Gilles Thomas on Ermitage Kalone (42.92), who took home the lucrative top prize of €101,838 for their efforts, while Lillie Keenan (USA) on Fasther clocked 44.59 and claimed the €61,720 runner-up prize. Lynch earned a prize fund of €46,290 for third place and he is currently third in the overall GCT standings after leg seven.

Lynch acknowledged that his participation in the individual championship of the Longines Global Champions Tour is due to being on the New York Empire team, owned by Georgina Bloomberg, saying afterwards: “I’m here for New York Empire, so I ride with my focus on them, and what comes after them is a bonus.” Commenting on the show, he added: “A fantastic atmosphere, but always the French are, they’re very knowledgeable and real horse country.”

Lynch and Mr Boombastic had already placed 10th in the second five-star 1.60m Global Champions League competition in Paris on Friday, with a clear jumping round, but incurring three time-penalties when clocking 76.41. The round was won by Denmark’s Zascha Nygaard Lill on Primavera in a very fast time of 66.45.

Lynch’s round helped his New York Empire team to 11th place out of 17 teams in the team competition, with the win going to Istanbul Warriors. Lynch’s team currently sit in ninth place in the overall standings, which at this point is headed by Cannes Stars.

Sunday saw Lynch finish just off the podium in the five-star 1.55m Eiffel Challenge jump-off class, when jumping double clear with the 16-year-old stallion Cordial to place fourth (36.68) of the 43 starters. Thirteen pairings jumped a clear first round for their chance to jump again, with eight of them completing double clear rounds. The win went to Belgian rider Abdel Said on Bonne Amie in a time of 34.43, followed by Max Kuhner on the 14-year-old EIC Up Too Jacco Blue (ISH) a close second (34.63) and Gilles Thomas (BEL) continuing his good run of form to claim third place with Qiara de Kalvarie in third (36.51).