FOLLOWING victory in the five-star Grand Prix seven days earlier, Denis Lynch continued his good run of form in St Tropez, France, when finishing fourth in the five-star finale last weekend, as well as winning a class at the venue.

Another flawless performance from Onyx Consulting’s 13-year-old stallion Cristello 2 saw them sail through to the jump-off in Sunday’s €200,000 five-star Grand Prix, the second in as many weeks at the venue. He was joined by 14 others of the starting 49 in the timed round.

The ‘who’s who’ of international show jumping dominated the top 10 and Lynch eventually had to settle for fourth place and €20,000 when breaking the beam clear in 41.26 seconds.

Belgium’s Niels Bruynseels and the wonderful 14-year-old mare Gancia de Muze posted the fastest round of the day in 39.70 to win the top prize of €50,000, ahead of teammate Jos Verlooy and his 2019 European medallist Igor (0/0 40.28).

Italy’s Alberto Zorzi completed the podium on board Vauban du Trio in a time of 40.37 seconds. Frenchman Roger-Yves-Bost was best of the home riders in fifth place with Sangria du Coty (0/0 41.41).

“Gancia always knows what to do and she likes winning. All I have to do is ride well!” Bruynseels said afterwards. “She jumped really well again today and I really felt that she jumped this course and jump-off very easily and enthusiastically. Gancia is naturally very quick and she’s very experienced.

“She knows that it’s the Grand Prix and she tries to do everything possible to be the best. We go back a long way together. We have a really special bond. She’s a mare with a lot of character. When she’s at home, she likes to stay on her own, quietly.

“She’s not very keen on working on the flat, so we take her outside a lot. We do everything possible to make sure she’s in the best conditions. She’s a princess, the star of the stables and she knows it!” the winner added.

Lynch won Saturday’s two-star Table A 1.40m aboard the eight-year-old gelding Visa Z, owned by Onyx Consulting and Tops Trading. The Vigo d’Arsouilles-sired gelding was produced last season in Ireland by Galway show jumper Damien Griffin for Lynch, jumping on to 1.35m level on the national circuit.

The combination were the fastest of only two double clear rounds in the class to win €2,000, ahead of Frenchman Philippe Rozier.