LOUTH’S Mark McAuley finished on the podium in the two-star 1.45m jump-off class at the Equieffe Equestrian Centre in Gorla Minore, Italy on Sunday, part of the two-star fixture which ran over the weekend.

Riding the 12-year-old stallion L’Arc En Ciel Z, McAuley jumped double clear in a jump-off time of 33.78 seconds to place third in the class of 58 starters. Just 11 combinations managed to jump fault-free to get through to the jump-off, where nine of them completed double clear rounds. McAuley’s time was just over a second behind the winner, Italy’s Enrico Frana on Ponciarello, who stopped the clock in 32.51, while fellow Italian runner-up Emilio Bicocchi on Hemerald D’Argonne was just fractions slower in 32.55.

Saturday’s two-star 1.45m two-phase class saw McAuley riding L’Arc En Ciel Z into sixth place out of a start list of 60. McAuley and his mount jumped double clear in a second phase time of 28.02, which was just over a second off the pace of Swiss winner Pius Schwizer on Kansas VDL, who stopped the clock in 26.57, finishing slightly ahead of Italy’s Guido Franchi on Kamille Delta Mossel Z in second (26.77) and Evelyne Bussmann (SUI) on Virtuoso Semilly in third (26.97).