With two wins at Drachten in The Netherlands and a third place in the big five-star show in Basel, Switzerland. Irish riders also featured in the early classes at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.

His third place in the Golden Drum of Basel jump-off class on Thursday night was enough for Denis Lynch to win €10,000 on Thomas Straumann’s bay stallion All Star. He finished just three-quarters of a second off the pace of Belgian winner Gregory Wathelet and Conrad, who claimed the first prize of €16,600.

Meanwhile, at the Dutch show, Co Mayo native Cameron Hanley took victory in the two-star jump-off competition aboard Dundee VD Dwerse Hagen. Fellow Co Mayo rider Alex Duffy and Corona won the next class, the 1.45m speed competition, while 18-year-old Bertram Allen sealed the Irish dominance with a second place on Wild Thing L.

Across the Atlantic, Irish riders filled two of the top-four places in the $25,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round 1. It took place on Thursday, the second day of competition at the 2014 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival.

The class was won by America’s Wilton Porter, who is trained by Corkman John Roche, on Paloubet with a double clear in 36.05 seconds. Charlie Jacobs (Flaming Star) was second in 36.79.

Ireland took the next two places courtesy of Ronan McGuigan on Capall Zidane in 37.22 and Shane Sweetnam on the Irish-bred Solerina in 37.49. Fifth place went to Paris Sellon on the Irish-bred Heracross in 38.87.

Speaking about his partnership with Paloubet, Vanderbilt University student Porter noted: “Definitely it has been improving. He is a little bit of a quirky horse and he has a funny mouth.

“My trainer John does a lot of the hard work. I have to always mention him because he does most of the hard work with the flatwork and everything while I’m gone and even when I’m here, he is the one who flats him in the morning.”

Full reports of the weekend’s action will be included next week.