DERRY’S Jordan Coyle was back on winning form at week five of the Winter Equestrian Festival at Wellington International in Florida. Friday saw Coyle ride the 11-year-old chesnut gelding King Kannan GP, owned by Elan Farm, to win the five-star $62,500 1.50m speed class in a time of 58 seconds. Their closest challenger out of the 49 starters, 23 of them who finished fault-free, was Mark Bluman (COL) on Phelina de Septon, who was runner-up in 58.91. Richard Vogel (GER) and Iron Dames Abou-Chaker NRW placed third in 59.62.

Tom Wachman got off the mark on Wednesday, with a podium finish in the five-star $1,000 1.40m speed class. Wachman rode Genghis Khan into third place when clear in 69.24. There was no denying the winner, as Nicolette Hirt (USA) and Dalton van de Lindehoeve Z stopped the clock in a very fast 62 seconds.

Bertram Allen has been having a great run in Florida and this continued when he rode Pacino Amiro into eighth place in Wednesday’s 37-strong five-star $32,000 1.45m two-phase class. Allen kept all the poles intact in 24.63, which couldn’t quite match the winning time of 22.22 posted by former Irish chef d’equipe Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) on Corrie 9.

Winning ways

In one of Wednesday’s 1.40m Open Jumper classes, Cormac Hanley and Santiago VH Netehof took first place, with Simon McCarthy on Sea Coast Queen B Van’t Paradijs placing 10th. In the other 1.40m class, Darragh Kerins placed fourth with RSK Quality Cruise. Friday saw a fourth-place finish for Stephen Moore and Conny Blue BH in the 56-strong two-star $32,000 1.45m qualifier, when they jumped double clear in a jump-off time of 41.32. First place went to Laura Chapot (USA) on Ginola in a time of 40.52.

Hanley and Santiago VH Netehof took fourth place in Friday’s 1.40m Open Jumper class, followed by Duffy on Miles in eighth place.

There were two Irish in the top 10 of Saturday’s five-star $500,000 Grand Prix, as Michael Duffy claimed eighth place with Be Sky Hawk and Cian O’Connor placed 10th on board Chatolinue PS. A start list of 39 resulted in eight clear first rounds, with just four remaining clear in the jump-off.

Duffy made it into the jump-off, but incurred eight faults to leave him in eighth place, while two time penalties in round one meant that O’Connor didn’t get the chance to jump again. Germany’s Richard Vogel on Gangster Montdesir won the class with a double clear in a jump-off time of 42.65 to take home the $150,000 top prize.

Daniel Kerins rode Malou Blue PS into fifth place in Saturday’s two-star $10,000 1.40m speed class. There were 25 on the start list, with 13 of them jumping without fault. Kerins’ time of 54.41 was just over a second off that of the winner, Sydney Shulman Desiderio (ISR) on Eyepop Semilly (53.08).

Sunday’s five-star $62,500 1.50m jump-off class saw four Irish in the top 10. From a start list of 42, the top 12 combinations returned to jump again. Canada’s Erynn Ballard rode De Flor 111 Z Santa Rosa into first place with the fastest double clear round (45.9), ahead of Rene Dittmer (GER) on Cody 139 in second (50.43). Wachman and Genghis Khan placed third, followed closely by O’Connor on Canbella Blue PS in fourth and Duffy on Mister Qerly Z in fifth. Simon McCarthy rode Leonardo S into ninth place.

Moore and Conny Blue BH recorded another top-10 finish on Sunday, when they placed ninth in the two-star $62,500 1.45m Grand Prix. Of the 45 starters, 14 jumped clear within the time to get through to the jump-off. Just six managed to keep all the fences standing second time out, with Moore among the four-faulters. Hilary McNerney (USA) on Corlando took first place with a double clear in 35.25.