A TENTH of a second denied Ireland's Jessica Kurten the ultimate prize of the weekend at Holland's five-star World Cup show when she finished second to Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in the Rolex FEI World Cup competition this afternoon (Sunday).

After a string of dazzling results at 's-Hertogenbosch, the Antrim-born rider was forced to concede victory in the ten-horse jump-off today when Olympic silver medallist Bengtsson entered the arena as last-man-in on the stallion 'Casall la Silla' and shaved the vital fraction off Kurten's early benchmark time, set with Lady Georgina Forbes's mare 'Castle Forbes Libertina'.

However Kurten, who picked up 40,000 euro for her runner-up finish, is assured of her place in the Rolex FEI World Cup Final due to be held in Geneva, Switzerland next month, and also came away from the Netherlands show with one first, one second, one third, two fourths and a fifth place, bettering the performance of any of the world's top riders competing at 's-Hertogenbosch over the last three days.

Following 's-Hertogenbosch Kurten now leads the Western European League with 90 points, while Dermott Lennon is in 18th position with 43 points and Cian O'Connor in 36th place on 17 points.