RIDERS recently named to Ireland’s show jumping squad ahead of the FEI World Championships in Aachen next month showed the kind of form which justified their selection at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Riesenbeck last weekend. Cian O’Connor, Bertram Allen and the travelling reserve Denis Lynch all earned top-four placings at the five-star German show.

Bertram Allen made a positive start to Saturday’s sport for Ireland when he finished second in the five-star 1.60m Kingsland Trophy GCL Individual Competition with the Aachen-bound Qonquest De Rigo. Laura Kraut and Baloutinue set an early target of a clear round in 71.29 seconds, and this proved unassailable for the rest of the field. Jumping 24th of the 27 combinations in the class, Allen and Aloga Stables Ltd’s 10-year-old bay gelding provided the last of six clear rounds but, crossing the finish line in 72.55, had to settle for second place and €16,000.

Cian O’Connor went one better for Ireland in the next class when he topped the leaderboard in the five-star 1.60m GCL First Team Competition with Karlswood Partners’ Chatolinue PS. The reigning Olympic champions Christian Kukuk and Checker 47 had the home advantage when they set the time to beat jumping directly ahead of O’Connor, but beat it he did, albeit by less than 0.1 of a second. He then had an anxious wait while the remaining 25 combinations tried to challenge his result, but none could and O’Connor emerged the winner of the €20,000 first prize.

“I’m delighted to have won the individual section of the GCL Riesenbeck team event with the Riyadh Knights aboard the fantastic Chatolinue PS,” he said afterwards. “He felt fantastic today and it’s a great boost as we build towards the World Championships in Aachen later this summer. A huge thank you to the Riesenbeck International team for putting on such a fantastic event at an incredible venue.”

Allen was in the money again on the same afternoon when he finished sixth as the fastest four-faulter in the 1.55m GCL Second Team Competition, this time riding Aloga Stables Ltd’s Pacino Amiro. This class was won by Victor Bettendorf with Qwando Van De Rispen, and it was Bettendorf in pole position again on Sunday in the five-star 1.60m Longines GCT Grand Prix of Riesenbeck. The Luxembourg rider partnered Gibbs Un Prince to win by a margin of almost a second in 35.37, and bring home €107,250.

Daniel Deusser claimed second place with Pepita van T Meulenhof BR, while Kukuk and Checker 47 were on the podium again in third. Denis Lynch and the 17-year-old Holsteiner Cordial featured here in fourth, having posted one of the five double clears in the class in a jump-off time of 38.79 seconds, to earn €32,500.

Kellie claims a win

Sunday saw further good results for Irish riders when Meath native Kellie Allen claimed the top spot in the two-star 1.45m Prize of Kreissparkasse Steinfurt Grand Prix riding the 14-year-old mare Extasy. Six of the 40 starting combinations went clear in the first round and, of these, three secured double clears. Allen’s was the fastest performance, and she finished half a second ahead of Philipp Schulze Tophoff and Cortez FZ to secure the €6,250 first prize.

In the two-star 1.45m Effol Prize two phase class, James Connors Smyth finished third with his employer and the show host Beerbaum Stables’ Oberon 67. German riders Soren Suppert and Carlotta Reseicher could not be divided here when they finished on exactly the same time of 26.77, while Connors Smyth produced the next fastest second round time of 27.60. 52 combinations competed. O’Connor also recorded another good result when he finished sixth in the one-star 1.45m LVM Youngster Tour Final riding the aptly-named seven-year-old Karlswood. This class was won by Christian Ahlmann riding Toemme De Regor Z.