IN one of the more unusual World Cup competitions in the present series, Ireland's Denis Lynch claimed ninth place at the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva, Switzerland this afternoon (Sunday), piloting Thomas Straumann's gelding Lantinus.

The first round yielded an almost unprecedented 16 clear rounds from a starting field of 40, but Tipperary-born Lynch was the only Irish rider to make the cut, Jessica Kurten having picked up 13 faults with Vincente and Niall Talbot and Nicos de la Cense faulting once.

Lynch jumped a third of the way through the field in the second round, and briefly held the lead, but a succession of faster rounds from some of the world's top combinations eventually relegated him to ninth and a 3,800 euro prize.

With almost every rider bettering the time of the previous competitor it came as little surprise when last-man-in, Brazil's Alvaro Miranda, took the trophy and the 42,000 euro first prize with the grey gelding AD Ashleigh Drossel Dan in an unbeatable time of 41.72 seconds.

Denis Lynch is now in equal fifth place in the World Cup rankings after Geneva.

Lynch had added a second victory to Ireland's tally at the World Cup show in Geneva on Saturday afternoon when winning the Accumulator competition on board his own bay stallion Contifex.

In a field of 35 starters, he saw off nearest challenger, the USA's Beezie Madden on the gelding Cortes C, with just over a second in hand.

Ireland's first victory at the five-star Swiss show came on Thursday night from Co. Down-based Dermott Lennon and Judith Sossick's Irish-bred mare Loughview Lou Lou. The 42 year-old scorched home to beat French runner-up Pénélope Leprevost and the French-bred mare Modena by a fifth of a second.

Later in the evening Denis Lynch was one of three to share first place in the Six Bar class at Geneva with Thomas Straumann's gelding Upsilon d'Ocquier, while on Friday Jessica Kurten took sixth place in the Credit Suisse Grand Prix with API Largo.

Dermott Lennon also secured a seventh place with Hallmark Elite in Saturday's feature class, the 1m60 over two rounds, which was won by Switzerland's Pius Schwizer and Ulysse.
 

Denis Lynch