IRISH Olympic dressage rider Judy Reynolds is up four places to a career-best ranking of 21st in the latest FEI World Individual Dressage Rankings, published yesterday (Thursday, September 1st).

Reynolds and the 14-year-old Jazz gelding Vancouver K, owned by her parents Joe and Kathleen Reynolds, were the first Irish combination in 24 years to qualify for the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro last month.

Her outstanding performance at the Olympic Games, where she placed 18th in the final, was the culmination of a season to remember for the German-based Kildare native.

Judy and Vancouver K (affectionately known as 'JP') placed eighth in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Final in Gothenburg in March. The same month Reynolds secured qualification for the Olympic Games and set a new Irish international Grand Prix Kür (freestyle to music) record score of 79.70% at the CDI***** show in Al Shaqab Doha, Qatar.

Her outstanding form continued in June when she won the Grand Prix at Achleiten CDI****, Austria with a record Irish international Grand Prix score of 75.24%. A personal best score of 74.09% in the Olympic Grand Prix Special (GPS) saw her come tantalisingly close to Anna Merveldt's 1995 Irish international GPS record score of 74.20%.

It is over 20 years since Ireland last had a dressage rider in the top 25 in the world. Anna Merveldt placed 11th in the final of the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, she was 9th individually at the European championships in Lipica, Slovenia in 1993 and placed 6th at the World Equestrian Games in The Hague, The Netherlands in 1994.

Former Irish national dressage champion Roland Tong is up five places to 140th. Tong and Rybrook Ambience scored 73.325% to place third in the Grand Prix Kür at Hartpury CDI***, Great Britain in July.

Italian-based rider James Connor is up 37 places to 230th. Dublin-born Connor and his 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding Casino' Royal were second in the Grand Prix Special at the CDI*** show in Caselle Di Sommacampagna, Italy, in the first week of March.

German rider Kristina Bröring-Sprehe (Desperados FRH) retained the number one slot in the the latest FEI rankings.