GERMANY’S Christian Ahlmann scored his second World Cup win within a week, when he came out on top in the sixth round of the Longines series at Madrid, Spain, last Sunday.

In the previous round at Suttgart he partnered Codex One, but in Madrid the 15-year-old stallion Taloubet Z, who carried him to success, and the 40-year-old rider couldn’t help but feel emotional in the aftermath.

“My horses are going so well at the moment, it’s amazing - we’ve had some very, very hard days not so long ago, but now we are having some very nice days, and Taloubet was jumping fantastic. He’s always a very good horse, but today felt special because I was thinking and hoping that Mr Melchior was looking down and watching him win, and that he would be feeling proud once again!” he said. Ahlmann was referring to the late master of the world-famous Zangersheide Stud and the father of his partner Judy-Ann, Leon Melchior who passed away just a few short weeks ago.

Only five horse-and-rider combinations made it through to the jump-off, with Colombia’s Carlos Lopez and Prince de la Mare finishing as runners-up. Belgium’s Pieter Devos lined up third with Dream of India Greenfield while Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann finished fourth with Cantinero ahead of Germany’s Marco Kutscher and Chaccorina in fifth spot.

Both of the Irish riders who competed in Madrid, Dermott Lennon (Loughview Lou-Lou) and Denis Lynch (All Star 5), finished with one fence down in the opening round.

Lynch did feature in an earlier 1.45m class at the Spanish venue. He took fourth place with Abbervail Van Het Dingeshof behind French winner Roger Yves Bost with Pegase Du Murier.

The seventh leg of the series will take place at the hugely popular Christmas show at Olympia in London (GBR) on December 20th.