WITH eleven through to the jump-off at Braunschweig's Grand Prix in Germany this afternoon (Sunday), it looked like Ireland's Denis Lynch had a good chance of snatching the first prize of a Volkswagen car when he went clear with 'Abbervail van het Dingeshof', but his stay at the top of the leaderboard was short-lived.

Britain's Robert Whitaker and the Irish-bred 'Casino' were first to beat the Irishman's time, but last man in Lars Neiberg trumped both riders with a scorching finish on the bay gelding 'Lord Luis'.

Lynch and Thomas Straumann's ten year-old gelding ended up just over one-and-a-half seconds off the pace of the German winner, but a third place netted the Tipperary rider 9,000 euro in prize money and established one of his best results on the international circuit this month.