BERTRAM Allen ensured his long flight to Los Angeles was worthwhile, when he won a thrilling $130,000 Longines Speed Challenge last Friday night. The LA Masters is part of the Longines Masters Grand Slam, which also visits Hong Kong and Paris, with a whopping $1 million in prize money at each venue.

World No 1 Scott Brash had held the lead before Allen entered the arena as second last to jump. The unique competition format sees two seconds added for each fence lowered, however Brash’s excellent round with Hello Annie saw him come home with all the fences intact in what looked an unbeatable time of 58.96 seconds.

Riding Quiet Easy 4, Allen showed his intentions right from the start, jumping the very first fence at an angle and continuing at breathtaking speed. The Irishman crossed the line 0.05 of a second faster than his British rival to take victory.

Italian rider Piergiorgio Bucci took the last place on the podium with Cuarta, dislodging John Whitaker and Lord Of Arabia into fourth. Ireland’s Kevin Babington took the last prize-winning place, finishing in 12th spot with Shorapur.

“Scott Brash’s round was unbelievable but my horse really tried,” said Allen, who collected $42,900 for his latest win. Quiet Easy 4, who is by Quidams Rubin out of a Zapateado dam, scored a similar speed class win at the Global Champions Tour show at Valkenswaard in the Netherlands in August and also won at Aachen, Germany in May.

Earlier on Friday in LA, John Whitaker rode to victory with Argento in the Prix Airbus 1.50m. He beat Edwina Tops-Alexander and Lintea Tequila by 0.59 seconds in the jump-off, adding to his recent success in the series as the winner of the Gucci Gold Cup and Longines Grand Prix at the Longines Masters in Hong Kong. Kevin Babington and the Irish Sport Horse Mark Q finished in 11th place, less than two seconds behind the winner. The Irish Sport Horse stallion Flexible also featured in the prizes, finishing fourth with Rich Fellers.

Babington also scored a top-10 finish on the opening day in Los Angeles. The Carrick On Suir-born rider finished seventh in the 1.45m speed class with Shorapur, a class won by American rider Quentin Judge with Fyloe.