IRISH riders made a positive impression over the weekend, with Meath’s Cian O’Connor and Derry’s Jordan Coyle both securing podium positions in the opening class, as the five-star Longines Global Champions Tour returned to Mexico City for the second round of this year’s competition, with classes running from Thursday through to Sunday at Campo Marte.

Thursday’s opening five-star Trofeo The Years of Culture 1.45m two-phase class saw a start list of 54, of whom 31 had a fault-free first round and booked a place in the second phase. Here, an impressive 19 managed to negotiate the course without penalty, with time being the ultimate decider. What was even more impressive was that two of these were Irish riders and they both secured podium places. Last to go in the jump-off, O’Connor rode Coolmore Showjumping’s Genghis Khan into the runner-up position, when double clear in a second phase time of 29.92, closely followed by Coyle on King Kannan GP, owned by Elan Farm, in third in a time of 30.32. The pair were pipped to the top spot by Belgium’s Jerome Guery riding Careca LS Elite, whose time of 29.18 proved unbeatable.