TWO Irish riders finished in the top three of the two-star 1.45m Grand Prix in Riesenbeck, Germany, last weekend.

On home soil, Clare’s Eoin McMahon, who rides at Ludger Beerbaum’s stable, took the runner-up position on his top horse Chacon 2, just under a second quicker than Mayo’s Jonathan Gordon in third place with Dorotheental’s Classica.

Sixty combinations started in the class and the pair were among 21 to finish the first round with a clean sheet. Twelve then went on to produce a second clear rounds against the clock. McMahon and the 14-year-old Chacco-Blue gelding, who he rode to Nations Cup victory in Drammen recently, broke the beam in 44.64 seconds, just over a second slower than German legend Marcus Ehning who won aboard the nine-year-old stallion Stargold (0/0 43.80). McMahon earned €5,000.

Gordon, with Christine and Theodor Rauber’s nine-year-old mare Dorotheental’s Classica, was placing in his third Grand Prix in as many weeks. They won the two-star Grand Prix in Herlaze, before finishing fifth in the Grand Prix in Lier and now third in Riesenbeck. “She is the horse of a lifetime and I think she will win five-star Grands Prix,” Gordon recently told The Irish Field.

Earlier in the week, McMahon finished third in a 1.45m jump-off class with the 10-year-old mare Chakra 9 who is owned by Madeleine Winter-Schulze. The pair were one of just four double clears in 42.43 seconds to earn €3,810. Victory went to Germany’s Felix Hassmann and Cayenne WZ (0/0 41.29).

Young rider Jason Foley, who was recently accepted into the prestigious Young Riders Academy, was also in action at the German venue and he finished sixth in Sunday’s one-star 1.40m with the Irish Sport Horse Castlefield Vegas (Cassino x Lux), who was bred by John Clarke and is owned by Martin Egan and Ger O’Neill.