Brian Hennessy

IRELAND’S three representatives at the Longines Global Champions Tour final in Doha have been in superb form this week, ahead of today’s (Saturday) lucrative grand final.

Both Bertram Allen and Cian O’Connor scored third-place finishes on the opening day of the five-star meeting at Doha on Thursday.

O’Connor finished third in the opening class with the nine-year-old stallion Super Sox. The son of Silvio I, finished the 1.45m two phase contest just seven tenths of a second behind Italian winner Emanuele Gaudiano riding Guess. Allen slotted into fourth place with his speed specialist Quiet Easy 4.

Allen was back on the podium in the afternoon’s 1.55m jump-off class, taking third spot with Molly Malone V. The 20-year-old Wexford rider finished just over a second behind Moroccan winner Abdelkebir Ouaddar with the exciting Diamant de Semilly stallion Quickly de Kreisker.

Along with Tipperary’s Denis Lynch, Allen and O’Connor will line-out in today’s (Saturday) feature Global Champions Tour final in Doha, which begins at 5pm Irish time and carries a whopping €1.4 million prize fund.

Three riders are in contention for the overall crown. Scott Brash, sits at the top of the leaderboard and will make history if he manages to take his third consecutive title.

Portugal’s Luciana Diniz is the next highest ranked rider, while two-time Swedish Olympic silver medallist, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson, is the final rider who could take the title.

The Longines Global Champions Tour final at the magnificent Al Shaqab stadium is available to view online, free of charge. Visit The Irish Field website www.theirishfield.ie for full details on how to watch the drama unfold.