CORK'S Billy Twomey collected 7,000 euro for a fourth place in this evening's (Saturday) Grand Prix at the five-star show in Madrid, Spain.

One of ten double clears in the 1m55 competition, which featured 36 starters, the 34 year-old Irish rider piloted Sue Davies's stallion Je t'Aime Flamenco, but in a hotly-contested jump-off was just over a second off the pace of Netherlands winner Mikael van der Vleuten and the Dutch-bred VDL Groep Sapphire B, who snatched the winner's prize of 19,000 euro.

Ireland's Niall Talbot took seventh place on Jean-Claude Engisch's French-bred gelding Nicos de la Cense.

Twomey will tomorrow (Sunday) take part in the European Championship Individual Final, having qualified as one of Europe's top 25 riders after three days of competition in Madrid. He will now be joined by Shane Sweetnam and Amaretto Darco, who moved onto the startlist tonight after withdrawals.

Today's Grand Prix was a non-championship class.

The Individual Final will be broadcast by BBC2 on Sunday at 3.10pm, and it will also be available by subscription on FEItv.

A European Show Jumping Championships special highlights programme will be shown on RTE2 on Monday, 19 September at 8pm.
 

Billy Twomey