Brian Hennessy

A STUNNING performance from Tipperary’s Greg Broderick saw him finish on the podium in third place, in his first ever appearance on the Longines Global Champions Tour, at Estoril in Portugal.

Riding the nine-year-old Irish-bred gelding MHS Going Global, Broderick produced three perfect clear rounds to finish just a fraction behind world number-one Scott Brash and second placed Abdullah Al Sharbatly from Saudi Arabia. MHS Going Global has less than six months international experience under his belt, having been produced solely on the national circuit until this year.

A delighted Broderick spoke to The Irish Field shortly after returning to Ireland this week. “I am over the moon, he jumped out of his skin,” he said. “The Global Tour is like a different world, the setting, the facilities and the way it is run. I am just delighted for the horse’s owner Lee Kruger from Caledonia Stables. She had a fantastic time over in Estoril and is just so proud of her horse.”

A tough first two rounds saw only four combinations make it through to the jump-off at Estoril, with Greg Broderick drawn as second last to jump in the final decider.

Abdullah Al Sharbatly had posted an extremely fast clear round when first to go with the 12-year-old gelding Domingo, putting pressure on Christian Ahlmann who was next in with Cornado II. The German did manage to beat the target time, but lowered one rail, opening the door for Broderick who now knew a clear round would give him a podium finish.

He gauged the course perfectly to deliver a third clear with the Caledonia Stables-owned son of Guidam Junior, although not chasing the target time in the knowledge that Scott Brash and Hello Santos were still to follow. The world number one comfortably posted a winning round when last to jump, pushing Al Sharbatly into second with Irishman Broderick taking third place on the podium along with €45,000 in prize money.

JUMPING STEADY

Broderick continued: “He is a naturally fast horse and in time to come I have no doubt he will win a lot of big classes. He has all the scope in the world and is just so balanced. At the moment I just want to stay jumping steady with him until after the Europeans if we go there. He is still only nine so we have to keep building him up slowly.

“Hello Santos is one of the most experienced horses in the world and there was no point galloping to try and beat him here. We have a lot of big occasions to come in the months ahead”.

With representatives from the Irish show jumping team’s new corporate sponsor Investec watching on, Ireland finished with three riders in the top-10. Wexford’s Bertram Allen finished in seventh place on Billy Twomey’s Romanov, after a single fence down in the first round, while Tipperary’s Denis Lynch finished in 10th with one second round mistake aboard Thomas Straumann’s All Star 5. Allen’s points haul at Estoril was enough to move him up to 10th place overall in the Global Champions Tour rankings.