Allen places fifth in French feature class

COMPETING at the Longines Global Champions Tour show in Cannes, France this weekend, Ireland’s Bertram Allen finished fifth in tonight’s big jump-off feature class, riding Quainton Stud’s gelding Quiet Easy 4.

The 19 year-old Wexford rider, currently ranked fifth in the world, was one of seven through to the final round, but some formidable performances from the French and British left him in fifth place overall, but with 3,700 euro in prize money.

France’s Penelope Leprevost with Nice Stephanie set an early blistering time of 33.83 seconds, but though Allen came home in 34.12, he was behind Germany’s Christian Ahlmann aboard Reavnir, who stopped the clock at exactly the same point as Leprevost, to share third place, and Britain’s world number one rider Scott Brash on Hello Annie, who claimed the lead on 33.77 seconds.

However, fellow-countryman Ben Maher with Aristo Z then shaved just over a second off Brash’s time, to take the 20,300 euro first prize on 32.76 seconds.

The Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix takes place in Cannes on Saturday night, with 300,000 euro in prize money at stake.

Bertram Allen