A TOUGH Grand Prix track saw just four riders from a starting list of 49 make it through to the final jump-off in the Global Champions Tour at Valkenswaard in the Netherlands this afternoon (Saturday), with Ireland's Denis Lynch snatching second place and 57,000 euro in prize money on Thomas Straumann's bay gelding 'Lantinus'.

With a 285,000 euro prize pot on offer, many of the world's top riders and horses battled it out over two rounds, and American Olympic champion Laura Kraut was the only competitor to beat 34 year-old Tipperary-born Lynch to the 95,000 euro first prize.

Kraut, who was piloting the 12 year-old grey gelding 'Cedric', stopped the clock just over a second faster than the Irishman, but they were the only two riders to achieve zero scores in the jump-off.

Ireland's Jessica Kurten finished tenth in the Grand Prix on 'Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois' by making it through to the second round, where a single mistake then took her out of contention for the jump-off.

 

Denis Lynch