TWO hundredths of a second separated Ireland's Jessica Kurten from the 95,000 euro first prize in the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix at Monte Carlo tonight (Saturday).

After two challenging clear rounds, the 40 year-old Antrim-born rider was second last to go in the six-horse jump-off with Lady Georgina Forbes's famous bay mare 'Castle Forbes Libertina', and put her foot to the boards to come home on a zero score in a time of 35.29 seconds, the fastest of the final round.

But last man in the arena, Brazil's Bernardo Alves, shot the nine year-old chestnut mare 'Bridgit' round the five-star course at such a consistent speed that he was able to shave vital fractions off the Irish rider's time, stopping the clock at 35.27.

Kurten, however, had the consolation of seeing the points gained tonight put her in second place behind Germany's Marco Kutscher in the overall Global Champions Tour rankings, and she also took home the significant runner-up prize of 57,000 euro.
 

Jessica Kurten