Denis Lynch adds to World Cup points tally with third place finish in Verona

Tipperary’s Denis Lynch has moved up to fourth place on the Western European Longines FEI World Cup league table following an excellent third place finish in today’s (Sunday) third round of the series at Verona in Italy.

Thirteen combinations made it into the jump-off with Lynch drawn last to go after an impressive first round clear aboard the 15-year-old gelding GC Chopin’s Bushi. A very smooth second clear against the clock in 38.62 seconds saw Lynch finish third to collect almost €30,000 and 15 valuable World Cup points to add to the 7 points he picked up last time out in Lyon (FRA). Victory in Verona went to French rider Simon Delestre and Hermes Ryan with a clear in 37.32, while Kendra Claricia Brinkop (GER) and Kastelle Memo finished second when clear in 37.80. Wexford’s Bertram Allen (Harley vd Bisschop) and Louth’s Mark McAuley were also among the starters but both failed to make it into the second round.

On Saturday in Verona, Denis Lynch and Rubens LS La Silla (pictured) proved unbeatable in the 1m50 speed class while Mark McAuley took sixth place with O’Hara ELS. McAuley also secured a runner-up finish with Miebello in Friday’s 1m55 jump-off class which was won by Wilm Vermeir (BEL) and Iq van het Steentje.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic, Co Down’s Conor Swail maintained his excellent recent run of form when scoring two impressive wins this weekend at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, California, USA.
Friday afternoon’s $36,600 Sun Air Jets 1m50 CSI3* saw Swail and Vital Chance de la Roque beat 35 entries to secure the win.
A day later, Swail once again proved unbeatable this time in the $36,600 Talus 1m45 when riding Theo 160.