IRISH course builder Alan Wade produced an intriguing test of horse and rider for Sunday’s seventh round of the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping competition at Olympia in London, with German riders filling the top two places at the finish, while Ireland’s Bertram Allen also featured in the final shake-up.

In the end it was Marco Kutscher who claimed victory in the H&M-sponsored class with the 11-year-old gelding Cornet’s Cristallo, who is by the stallion Cornet’s Obolensky that Kutcher himself rode with great success until the grey was retired in 2012. Kutscher and Cristallo were deceptively fast around the jump-off course and a time of 37.66 seconds would prove enough to grab the winner’s cheque of over €40,000.

“The beginning of the jump-off wasn’t perfect and I wanted to do one less to the double but he was a bit behind me - he really helped me there. I was very deep, very close - but he made it,” Kutscher said afterwards.

Fellow countryman and defending FEI World Cup champion Daniel Deusser briefly held the lead with the 11-year-old mare Carriere before settling for runner up spot after being overtaken by Kutcher.

Deusser’s performance for Stephex Stables was remarkable, considering he only first rode the daughter of Catoki a week before the London show as two of his horses were ruled out through injury.

“I really wanted to come to London so I said to my boss that I have two options. Either I stay at home or I take two others, and he said on Tuesday just try this horse one time. So I rode her on Tuesday morning and she was on the truck on Tuesday afternoon,” said Deusser, who is pre-qualified for the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping 2015 Final as defending champion.

Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson held on to take third overall with H&M Tornesch, the 14-year-old stallion who, just like Hickstead Derby winner Adventure De Kannan, has only one eye.

Britain’s Robert Whitaker was the first rider to jump in both rounds and he made the course look easy with Catwalk IV, although several riders would soon find out that Alan Wade’s track demanded the utmost respect. Whitaker would finish as the best-placed British rider in fourth.

Ireland’s Bertram Allen comfortably posted the fastest time of the jump-off (36.81) with the Verona World Cup-winning mare Molly Malone V but an unlucky four faults at the penultimate fence on the course saw them finish seventh.

In the process they picked up more valuable league points in their bid to book a ticket to the Las Vegas final early in 2015.

PERFORMANCES

One of the stand-out performances of the competition came from the stallion Singular LS la Silla who is just an eight year-old. The son of Chapultepec La Silla out of a Stakkato dam was expertly ridden into ninth place by Marcus Ehning, who looks to have unearthed another gem of a horse.

Ehning finished just ahead of veteran rider John Whitaker who gave everything he had in a bid give the home crowd the winner they had hoped for. However he picked up four faults when last to go against the clock with Argento to finish tenth.

John’s younger brother Michael Whitaker missed out on a place in the jump-off after picking up just one time fault when exceeding the time allowed in round one by 0.11 of a second with Viking, while Australia’s Edwina Tops Alexander suffered the same fate with Fair Light Van T Heike.

Ireland’s only other representative in the Olympia World Cup round was Tipperary’s Denis Lynch and the Tipperary rider finished the first round with 13 faults aboard the 10-year-old Quasimodo gelding Quote Zavaan.

Marco Kutscher’s Olympia win has moved him up to third place in the Longines FEI World Cup rankings with five more rounds to go before the final in Las Vegas.

The 39-year-old recently left his long-time mentor Ludger Beerbaum to set up a yard with his girlfriend Eva Bitter and finished by saying: “I will be raising a glass to Ludger tonight because he helps me a lot. And it’s partly thanks to him not coming to Olympia that I managed to get in. It’s a really special show that I always want to come to.”