Lynch bags second straight LGCT podium in Riyadh
Cian O’Connor has been enjoying a wonderful time in Mexico for the majority of the past month and the Karlswood Stables boss filled all three podium positions at the five-star show in Monterrey this week.
He kicked it of by notching up a wonderful five-star triumph in the early hours of Friday morning, piloting Pegasus to the quickest clear round in a time of 66.42 seconds.
It was a brilliant result for O’Connor with an eight-year-old gelding that looked to the manor born at Club Hípico La Silla.
There were 40 participants in the speed class but only nine recorded clear rounds and with O’Connor audibly guiding his young charge around the tricky course, they took the lead from local hero Juan Jose Zendejas Salgado (MEX) with Just Nice Van Het Indihof by just more than half a second, with only five combinations remaining.
None of the remaining quintet managed to get close, ensuring a stirring rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann for the Olympic medallist and the promising grey owned by Sue Magnier.
O’Connor was back on the podium on Saturday morning after the 1.50m jump-off class with Kentucky TN. The Meath-based Kildare native only bought the ten-year-old stallion in May and have been getting to know one another in the meantime, while jumping some eye-catching rounds.
This was an excellent effort even to make the tiebreaker, as only seven combinations were faultless after the initial outing.
Conscious of this being a new combination, O’Connor did not embark on his customary all-duck-or-no-dinner style in jump-offs, opting to give Kentucky another positive experience and with only two others posting double clears – Mexican duo Arturo Parada Vallejo and Andres Azcarraga giving the home supporters plenty to go wild about – a solid blemish-free effort in 46.43 was enough for third.
O’Connor made it a third straight five-star podium in Monterrey, completing the full set when returning with Friday morning’s winner, Pegasus to claim the silver medal in the 1.50m Winning Round class on Sunday morning.
The 45-year-old racked up another double clear with Pegasus, and the pair got to within one-tenth of a second of a brilliant double vicytory, their time of 48.15 just shy of the 48.05 set by Luis Pedro Biraben with Georgina De Carles.
Denis Lynch warmed up for the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Riyadh with a sixth-place finish with Brooklyn Heights in a 1.45m five-star speed class in Saudi Arabia on Saturday and the Tipperary veteran certainly had his eye on as he steered the other famously sprightly 16-year-old in his ranks, Cordial to a stunning runner-up finish in the feature.
It was a second consecutive LGCT GP podium for the pair and it moved him to fourth overall in the final individual rankings behind the youngest ever champion, Gilles Thomas (BEL).
The night’s victory went to Jana Wargers (GER), with another 16-year-old Dorette OLD, who just had too many gears for the other ten combinations in the jump-off, with a second clear round in 41.71 but Cordial was best of the rest in 43.66. Thomas and Ermitage Kalone completed the the top three and Simon Delestre (FRA) and Harrie Smolders (NED) rounding off a high-class top five.
“I’m absolutely delighted with Cordial,” said Lynch. “It’s a credit to my team at home, especially my daughter (Sarah), who’s done amazing work with that horse over the last 12 months and we’re just really, really happy with the way he went today.
“Incredible to see the two horses, first and second, are both 16-year-old horses and it’s great to see.
“It’s the highest standard (of competition). I left a little bit there. I was probably somewhat quiet to the green oxer but in comparisons between Dorette and Cordial, if Cordial was a racehorse he’d be a Gold Cup horse whereas Dorette is a sprinter and that’s just the way it is!
Bertram Allen also recorded a very strong result when fourth in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup in Lyon, where the home crowd got the result they wanted with Olivier Perreau taking the honours with his 12-year-old mare GL Events Dorai d’Aiguilly.
Eight combinations progressed to the jump-off at the Concours Hippique International and it was Allen and the nine-year-old gelding owned by Aloga Stables that set the tone right from the off, with a quick clear in 43.79 seconds.
That was too hot for half their rivals but emboldened by encouragement from the stand, Perrau led home a French 1-2-3, clocking a clear in 43.25, with Julien Epaillard (Fringan de Vesquerie) and Antoine Ermann (Floyd des Pres) completing the podium.
Niamh McEvoy followed up her Nations Cup-winning heroics at Vejer de la Frontera last week along with Olympic ‘GL’ ‘FVD’, the duo finishing a tremendous second in the four-star Andalucía Grand Prix on Sunday won by Brazilian Pedro Veniss with Nimrod de Muze Imperio Egipcio.
McEvoy has enjoyed a year to remember, not least with five-star success at the Dublin Horse Show. She returned with Keith Ennis’s 11-year-old gelding from the previous week’s retention of the Vejer Nations Cup by the Green Jackets to Week 3 of the October Show by getting within three-quarters of a second a major four-star triumph.
There were 14 participants in the jump-off, Max Wachman and Lexington among them, but they knocked a rail when returning to the David Broome Arena and with six double clears, that meant they had to settle with tenth on this occasion.
McEvoy and her bay gelding made no jumping errors crucially and with the Tyrone athlete sending all the right signals and her equine partner responding, they stopped the clock in 38.60 for a fantastic result.
Frano Derwin steered Flexi K (ISH), bred at Knightfield Stud in Kildare, to a runner-up berth in the Karlswood Trophy at the venue 24 hours earlier.
The 12-year-old gelding, who is owned by the Athlone pilot, excelled under the Spanish sun as evidenced by the fact that only nine of the 67 combos advanced to the tiebreaker and only six of those posted a second clear round.
Derwin and Flexi K left all the rails intact and stopped the timers in 32.01 but Santiago Diaz Ortega (COL) and Tuuls were just a little bit quicker, posting a time of 31.78.
The aforementioned Sue Magnier, who was crowned champion owner at the end of the Irish flat thoroughbred racing season yesterday (Sunday), also owns Kannem J.A Z, who propelled her grandson, Max Wachman to fourth in the four-star Celeste Trophy on Thursday.
Wachman guided the ten-year-old stallion to a clear on the sand of the Milton Arena in 58.39 in the 1.50m speed class won by Marie Demonte (FRA) with Give Me One Reason DK.
And the young Goolds Cross pilot filled the same position the following day. This time he was riding Tipperary – once again owned by his grandmother – and they were extremely competitive in another 1.50m competition against the clock where the margins were remarkably tight.
Less than three-tenths of a second separated the top three after the smoke had cleared on the grass of the David Broome Arena and Wachman and Tipperary were less than three-quarters of a second off the winning time of 65.83 seconds set by Imma Roquet Autonell (ESP) with Irivola del Maset, jumping a fantastic clear in 66.59.
On the Autumn Tour in Valencia, Harry Allen bagged a silver medal and was very close to claiming all the marbles, as he and Lukaku VD Bisschop registered a double clear in the three-star 1.45m jump-off class.
The young Wexford athlete and the 14-year-old owned by Aloga Stables were smooth, precise and quick in navigating the two tests and took the lead with the second perfect outing in a time of 40.53.
Luxembourg’s Victor Bettendorf had been taking notes, however, and found eight-hundredths of a second more out on the track with Milky Way 111 to snatch the verdict.
Cortown pilot, Alex Butler completed the top five with another double clear, riding Tequila des Sequoias Z.
FLEXI K (ISH) – 2013 ch gelding by Flex A Bill/Flexible (ISH)[TIH] out of Deeply Kippy K (ISH) by Luidam (KWPN). Breeder: Knightfield Stud, Co Kildare. Owner & Rider: Francis Derwin (IRL)