MAYO’s Michael G Duffy (22) landed a brilliant fourth-place finish in the €300,000 Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Rome, Italy, on Saturday night.

Riding Carl Hanley Sporthorses’ Castlefield Rubinus, a 10-year-old gelding by Rock Forever, Duffy was third to go in the huge opening round and produced the first clear round of the class. Just four more followed suit leading to an exciting five-horse jump-off.

Duffy once again managed to keep a clean sheet second time out in a time of 39.68 seconds, and was unlucky to miss out on a place on the podium by less than a second. Britain’s Ben Maher took the winner’s prize of €99,000 when last to go, with a time of 37.45, aboard Explosion W. Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann finished second with Cantinero, in 38.32, ahead of Belgium’s Jos Verlooy in third with Caracas (38.85).

celtics on top

Denis Lynch was part of the Miami Celtic Global Champions League team who stood top of the podium on Saturday. Joined by America’s Jessica Springsteen, they were the only team to finish on a score of zero after the two days of competition.

Lynch rode Rushy Marsh Farm’s RMF Bella Baloubet on Friday and switched to RMF Echo for Saturday’s crucial round. Springsteen partnered RMF Zecilie in both rounds. Miami Celtics now lie in third place overall on the overall leaderboard with just Doha and Prague left in the 2018 season.

Speaking afterwards, Lynch said: “The focus is on. The rounds are not for the day, but for the overall [Championship] and for Doha, and looking ahead to the Playoffs.

The plan was always to change horses. We came to do a job, keep the focus, and do the best we could do.”