AFTER confirming his place at the Rolex Top 10 Final in Geneva next month, Ireland’s highest ranked show jumper Darragh Kenny had another weekend to remember when guiding Romeo 88 to a runner-up place in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup in Verona.

For some time it looked like the 31-year-old world number eight had secured victory in the class when ninth to go, but Britain’s Scott Brash spoiled his party when posting a last-to-go victory with Hello M’Lady.

Uliano Vezzani’s built a tough and delicate first-round with the angled oxer at fence eight and the line from the vertical white planks at nine to the double at fence 10 claiming a significant number of victims.

However, it wasn’t killer, the 80-second time allowed was quite generous and 16 of the starting 38 were clear in the first round.

Kenny’s jump-off round was fast and furious from the outset, and when this pair galloped down the final line and stopped the clock on 36.06 seconds there really didn’t seem to be any room for improvement on that.

But Brash, former world number one and team gold medallist at the London 2012 Olympic Games, is the king of cool and looked calm as he entered the arena with the 13-year-old Belgian-bred mare by Indoctro.

He managed to shave fractions of a second off Kenny’s time to earn the top prize of €47,500. Kenny collected €38,000 for second.

Romeo 88, a 10-year-old stallion by Contact van de Heffinck, joined Kenny’s stable in May, before his top owner, Ann Thompson, purchased the horse in June.

The combination won a five-star class at Spruce Meadows and finished second in the 1.50m Sport Ireland Classic at the Dublin Horse Show in August.

Olympic aim

Brash was thrilled with Hello M’Lady, who is owned by Lady P. Kirkham. “I was fortunate enough to be at the end so I could see how fast I had to go.

“Darragh had done a really good round, he was very, very fast so I had to take all the risks today – M’Lady was really fantastic and I’m delighted with her!”

Asked if he might have Tokyo 2020 on his radar for the mare, Brash replied: “Yes, the Olympics is certainly on my mind and I would hope to think M’Lady is going to be one of my strongest contenders for next year.

“She was off for quite a while through injury a few years back, but she jumped at this summer’s European Championships to help qualify Great Britain for Tokyo. It’s nice to feel that she feels competitive at the top end of the sport again, so I’ve high hopes for next year!”