CO LOUTH’S Mark McAuley has added to an excellent run of Irish results on the international stage this weekend, with a fifth place in Sunday’s Longines FEI World Cup Grand Prix at Lyon’s five-star show in France on the 13-year-old gelding Miebello.

A total of 11 combinations managed to jump clear in the opening round to set up what proved to be a thrilling jump-off against the clock.

McAuley and the Eva Lundin-owned grey gelding were third to go in the second round and they took the lead when shaving a hundredth of a second off the target of 40.01 seconds which had been set by Britain’s Michael Whitaker with Calisto Blue.

The French crowd were treated to a thrilling contest, where the lead changed hands on a number of occasions, and victory eventually went to home team rider Simon Delestre with Hermes Ryan after they posted a blistering clear round in 37.72.

The result crowned an excellent weekend for McAuley and Miebello after they took the winner's prize in the Longines Grand Prix in Lyon on Friday night to collect €25,000, to which they added €21,000 for fifth place in the World Cup competition.

Mark McAuley has now risen to eighth place on the World Cup league table, one place ahead of Denis Lynch.