DENIS Lynch brought a close to Saturday evening at the exceptional Brussels Stephex Masters show with victory in the five-star 1.50m class aboard the experienced gelding Brooklyn Heights.
Some 42 combinations lined up for the class presented by Audi, but after a demanding first round, only four secured their place in the jump-off. After a smooth first round, Lynch went again and stopped the clock in 39.32 seconds to go straight into the lead and were ultimately the only pair to complete with a double clear to win €21,000.
Frenchman Simon Delestre beat the time with Golden Boy DK, but had a fence on the floor to finish second. USA’s Lillie Keenan slotted into third with Highway TN, also finishing with four faults.
Runner-up
Lynch and Brooklyn Heights were runners-up in Thursday’s 1.40m Table A. Their time of 58.53 seconds was just slower than Brazil’s Stephan de Freitas Barcha who proved untouchable. Riding the experienced 17-year-old Chevaux Hex Lup Imperio Egipcio, Barcha produced a fast and faultless round in 57.42 seconds, securing the first CSI5* victory of the week. Fellow Irish rider, Sean Monaghan completed the top three. He piloted Roger de Mariposa (Vagabond de la Pomme x Air Jordan) to a clear round in 60.01 seconds.
On the same day, Monaghan guided Ballywalter Farms’ home-bred seven-year-old gelding Champagne BW (ISH, Chin Chin x Carentino) to win the seven/eight-year-old Future Stars class. He saw off Galway’s Michael Duffy, who placed second with his own eight-year-old Gallahad.
Cian O’Connor was second in Friday’s feature five-star jump-off class aboard Kentucky TN. The pair were one of nine clears in the first round and set the standard with a second faultless round in 37.33 seconds, which eventually earned them €21,100. In the end, victory went to the USA’s Kristen Vanderveen with Bull Run’s Jireh in 35.02 seconds.
Vanderveen did not drastically change her plan for the jump-off, but watching Cian O’Connor go immediately before her sharpened her approach. “Getting to see Cian go before me was great. He looked like he really went fast, and the times were pretty close. My plan was to try and win the class, so seeing him go gave me a little extra inspiration to make sure I didn’t leave the door open at all.”
Vogel on form
Just one week after standing atop the podium at the FEI World championships with his German teammates, Richard Vogel once again topped it in Sunday’s €500,000 Rolex Grand Prix after guiding Gangster Montdesir to victory and collecting €150,000.
His German teammate Daniel Deusser stood beside him once again, but in third place with Pepita van ’t Meulenhof, while Brazil’s Eduardo Pereira de Menezes and H5 Londentime split the two German world champions to take second.
The €500,000 Rolex Grand Prix presented by Audi was decided over two rounds, with the top 12 from the opening round returning for round two. Only five combinations had managed to keep a clean sheet first time out. By the end of the second round, just two remained faultless: Richard Vogel and Eduardo Pereira de Menezes. The Brazilian was second-last to go and left nothing on the table. His 42.85 seconds briefly put him in the lead, until Vogel entered the arena as the final starter and stopped the clock just a fraction faster in 42.34 seconds to take the win.
Denis Lynch finished in ninth place with Vistogrand (4/4 45.57), just ahead of Cork’s Billy Twomey and Ace of Hearts Z in 10th. They were clear in the first round, but picked up eight faults against the clock.