THERE was an Irish one-two in the two-star 1.45m Grand Prix in Eschweiler, Germany, on Wednesday, when Galway show jumper Michael Duffy came out on top, ahead of young rider Jack Ryan from Kilkenny.

Riding the nine-year-old gelding Zilton Sl Z, owned by HMF Equestrian, Duffy was the fastest of eight clear rounds against the clock when breaking the beam in 32.96 seconds to earn €6,350. Ryan produced the runner-up round in the 12-horse jump-off, in a time of 33.46, with Brian Cassidy’s nine-year-old Guminka.

Duffy is hoping to make a team appearance with Zilton in the coming weeks. Speaking to The Irish Field after returning home to England he said: “I am delighted with Zilton, he is still really only coming of age. I think the horse has everything, he is coming together really nicely and is going to be a top horse for the future.

“The jump-off was plenty fast. Jack Ryan was in the lead and he is well able to go fast! It was good education for the horse to go against the clock like that. I won the seven-year-old final with Jammy Dodger, he is a superstar too.

“I am home now for four days, Zilton and Jeff [Ten Halven] are going to Prague for the Nations Cup show so it is great that it is going ahead.”

Speaking about the situation at the two-star shows in Europe, Duffy added: “Peelbergen is really quite good, they only take 100 riders for the two-star, everyone gets to go in Friday’s ranking class and the top 60 qualify for the Grand Prix. But what Lier and Sentower are doing is an absolute disgrace. There is over 200 odd in a 1.40m on day one jumping. It is not the correct thing to do for our sport, in my opinion. You have to qualify for the qualifier. The national circuit in Ireland looks great, it is streets ahead of the national circuit here in the UK.”

Jack Ryan, who is also mentioned elsewhere on this page, won three classes at the show, held from Monday to Wednesday this week. He scored a double of two-star wins with Kate Speller’s nine-year-old gelding Granada S. The first came in Monday’s 1.35m, before galloping to victory again in Tuesday’s 1.40m.