Brian Hennessy

BERTRAM Allen began his Olympia campaign with a 10th place finish in Thursday’s afternoon’s 1.50m Horsezone Santa Stakes when riding the nine year-old Numero Uno gelding Aminko N, in a competition that was won by John Whitaker aboard the Arko stallion Argento.

Later that evening Bertram Allen moved up a gear and grabbed runner-up spot in the 1.50m Kingsland Christmas Pudding Stakes with the 11-year-old mare Wild Thing L. The daughter of Montreux is out of a Lux Z dam. Younger brother Harry Allen scored a couple of wins with the same mare at Nörten-Hardenberg in Germany back in May.

Dutchman Maikel van der Vleuten and VDL Groep Eureka claimed the winner’s prize, pipping Allen by a fifth of a second, while Ben Maher slotted into third with Cloud Nine II.

Also on Thursday, Northern Ireland’s David Simpson scored one of the biggest international wins of his career by landing the Alltech Olympia Puissance with the mare Richi Rich. It could prove to be a fitting finale to the jumping career of Richi Rich as Simpson said he had discussed plans for the mare’s retirement before the show with the horse’s owners. They intend to breed from the mare, who is a full sister to Luciana Diniz’s hugely successful stallion Winningmood.

David Simpson and Richi Rich were the only pairing to clear the Olympia wall at its final height of 2.20m, while fellow Irish rider Liam O’Meara exited after the second jump-off with Cisero.

Bertram Allen scored his first ever victory at Olympia’s five-star fixture on Friday evening, the 19-year-old winning the Christmas Speed Stakes with Wild Thing L, adding to their runner-up finish a day earlier.

It was a case of youth being to the fore as Belgium’s own young jumping star, 20-year-old Constant Van Paesschen, slotted into second place with Ralphy Utopia de Ransbeck.

Friday evening’s feature class was the 1.55m Longines Christmas Cracker, which saw a French winner in the form of Julien Epaillard riding the Cassal gelding Cristallo A LM. They finished with some two seconds to spare over runners-up Ben Maher with the nine year-old Kannan mare Diva II.

With a win and a runner-up placing already under his belt, Bertram Allen was on a roll and he added another win to his haul on Saturday afternoon. The Wexford rider piloted Billy Twomey’s bay stallion Aminko N to victory in the Christmas Masters competition, where they were the only combination to leave all the poles standing after the fourth jump-off,

Allen added €13,000 to his Olympia winnings, with Belgium’s Jos Verlooy and Golden Horta finishing runner-up and Maikel Van der Vleuten third with VDL Groep Eureka.

Later that evening Maikel Van der Vleuten took top prize in the 1.50m Christmas Tree Stakes aboard the nine-year-old Indoctro mare VDL Groep Arera C, while two of the Whitaker family also shared the podium. Michael Whitaker took the runner-up spot with Valentin R, just ahead of his brother John Whitaker who finished third with Lord of Araba.

Denis Lynch slotted into eighth place with Quote Zavaan, while earlier that morning the Tipperary-born rider had guided the eight-year-old mare Querida to ninth place in the 1.45m two-phase competition.

Sunday evening’s performance at Olympia saw American rider Reed Kessler score her first Olympia victory, coming home as the fastest of those to score maximum points in the H&M Accumulator class with Soraya de l’Obstination. Kessler has been spending some time recently training with Marcus Ehning and another one of the German rider’s pupils, Bertram Allen, also finished in the prizes. He finished 10th with the ever-consistent Wild Thing L.

“I’ve been knocking on the door all week, so I’m really happy to get one in the door,” said Kessler, who will remain in London for Christmas with her family. “The crowd is amazing. Nothing compares with winning at Olympia.”

Sunday evening’s main highlight at the Olympia Grand Hall was the H&M Ivy Stakes. Here, Scottish world number one Scott Brash picked up where he left off in Geneva the week before. Brash celebrated 13 months at the top of the jumping rankings with a win in the 1.60m competition aboard Hello M’Lady, an eight-year -old mare by Indoctro out of a Baloubet Du Rouet dam.

Brash decided to rest his top horse Hello Sanctos for Olympia and instead brought three promising young horses to Olympia.

He rates his winning mare as “a special, special horse”.

“She jumped wonderfully and I have high hopes for her,” he said. “I thought it was time for her to be tested and I wanted to win for the public, to give them something to cheer about. The reaction you get from the crowd at Olympia is beyond description.”

Spanish rider Sergio Alvarez Moya finished second with Abab van het Molenhof while Ireland’s Denis Lynch also finished in the top-10, coming home in eighth position with Querida.

Boyd excels

AUSTRALIAN carriage driver Boyd Exell put in an extraordinary performance to win his fourth consecutive FEI World Cup Driving competition of this season at London Olympia (GBR). Exell had already won at Stuttgart, Stockholm and last week in Geneva, where he competed with three borrowed horses to spare his own team for his wild card start in London. The Australian’s biggest opponent IJsbrand Chardon (NED) finished second, while Sweden’s Fredrik Persson drove very steadily for third.