THIRTY-one year-old Cian O'Connor continued to pick up prize money this afternoon (Friday) in the United Arab Emirates when he finished third in Abu Dhabi's Grand Prix Qualifier with the Irish-bred 'Larkhill Cruiser'.

IRISH riders took top five places in tonight's (Friday) feature class at the five-star show in Basel, Switzerland.

MEATH'S Cian O'Connor continued with his good run of form down in the United Arab Emirates today (Thursday), placing third in the day's feature class at Abu Dhabi, the Two Phase competition.

CIAN O'Connor today (Saturday) took fifth place in the Arab League World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix in Dubai with his Irish-bred gelding, 'Larkhill Cruiser', and this morning also added a comfortable win in the Accumulator competition with another Irish-bred horse, the eight year-old mare 'Arabella'.

HORSE Sport Ireland has confirmed that Robert Splaine will remain as the Team Ireland Equestrian Show Jumping Team Manager for the next two years. Robert Splaine signed a four year contract with Horse Sport Ireland which commenced in 2009 but contained a break option at end of 2010.

CIAN O'Connor scored Ireland's first international show jumping victory of 2011 when taking a comfortable win in the Dubai Grand Prix Qualifier today (Friday) in the United Arab Emirates.

IRISH riders now dominate the top tier of the Rolex World Jumping Rankings, with three listed in the top 12, more than any other country.

JESSICA Kurten claimed first place for Ireland at the 120,000 euro World Cup Qualifier in Mechelen, Belgium this afternoon (Thursday) riding Lady Georgina Forbes's bay mare 'Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois', adding the victory to her Queen's Cup win on Tuesday.

IRELAND'S Jessica Kurten claimed the Queen's Cup at Belgium's five-star show in the city of Mechelen tonight (Tuesday) by six hundredths of a second, pipping French challenger Caroline Nicholas to the prize by the narrowest of margins.

AS the international indoor show jumping season hits its halfway mark, Robert Splaine, Team Ireland Equestrian's show jumping manager, has announced his Irish selections for the next four legs of the World Cup Qualifier shows in 2011.