KILKENNY’S Ivan Dalton led an Irish whitewash in last Friday’s feature 1.45m world ranking class at the two-star show in Oliva, Spain, as Irish riders filled the top three places.

In a hugely competitive class, with a start list of 92 combinations, Dalton piloted Umano Des Dragons to the fastest of 24 double clear rounds in 31.80 seconds. The eight-year-old Diamant De Semilly gelding is owned by Butler Court Stables and Darragh McCarthy and Dalton guided him to win a two-star Grand Prix in Knokke, Belgium, last July. Swiss-based Niall Talbot and Nicos De La Cense followed close behind in second place. Fresh from winning a ranking class the week previous, Talbot posted a time of 32.05 seconds with the 15-year-old gelding.