THERE was just one five-star fixture on over the weekend - The Dutch Masters at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands ran from Thursday, March 12th until Sunday, March 15th, with Denis Lynch representing Ireland against some very stiff competition.

Lynch and Brooklyn Heights placed seventh in the five-star 1.50m Winning Round class on Sunday. From the start list of 31, the best 12 combinations were due to jump again, with one of those opting to withdraw from the Winning Round. Five pairs managed to keep the poles intact in round two, with Lynch and his mount picking up an unfortunate four faults.

Richard Vogel (GER) won the class with Phenyo van het Keysersbos when double clear in a Winning Round time of 35.02. Kevin Staut (FRA) on Kannonqulan was second and Hessel Hoekstra (NED) on VDL Mindset ES was third, despite both having four faults first time out - such is the nature of the Winning Round format.

Vogel was clearly on winning form and went on to claim victory in the highlight of the show, the five-star 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix - part of the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping and with a prize fund of €1 million - later in the day, when riding the 14-year-old stallion United Touch S to a double clear in 39.42. There were 37 on the start list for the class, with 11 jumping clear in the first round; five pairs completed double clear rounds over the challenging 1.60m track. Vogel’s first prize was €300,000, with runner-up Thibeau Spits (BEL) on Impress-K van’t Kattenheye Z receiving €200,000 and third-placed Pieter Devos (BEL) on Casual DV Z pocketing €150,000.