CIAN O'Connor chalked up the first outright Irish victory of the weekend at Geneva's five-star show in Switzerland when decisively winning the Derby competition with Declan McEvoy's bay gelding 'Umberto' this afternoon (Saturday) .

The 31 year-old Meath-based rider was the only competitor from the 25 starters to incur no jumping penalties, and saw off his nearest competitor, France's Philiipe Rozier and 'Ideal de Roy', by just over three fifths of a second on the clock.

The Derby, which is run over a course of natural obstacles such as a lake and hillocks, adds time to the rider's score for every jumping mistake made on the course.

O'Connor followed his earlier Derby success at Geneva when he was on the winning team later in the night in the Credit Suisse competition, riding the Irish-bred gelding 'Larkhill Cruiser'.

The class involved four teams made up of different nationalities, with four riders from each team first competing in a standard round involving jumping faults, with the second round featuring three fresh riders in a speed round.

O'Connor and his nine year-old Cruising gelding took part in the second round as a member of the Europe II team, alongside Portugal's Luciana Diniz and France's Phillipe Rozier, and their time, combined with the first round scores, was eight seconds faster than the second-placed Swiss team.

The Rest of the World team took third place, while the Europe I team , which featured Ireland's Denis Lynch and Jessica Kurten, finished fourth.

Geneva's signature class, the Rolex Grand Prix World Cup Qualifier, takes place on Sunday afternoon.

Cian O'Connor