Incredible week for Irish riders at Dublin Horse Show finishes with Denis Lynch runner-up in Longines Grand Prix while Cian O’Connor wins Speed Stakes

Denis Lynch and Cian O’Connor completed a remarkable five days for Ireland at the Dublin Horse Show, with Lynch claiming runner-up spot in the curtain-closing Longines Grand Prix of Ireland, while Cian O’Connor scored his second win of the week in Sunday morning’s Speed Stakes.

Denis Lynch and RMF Echo scored a runner-up finish in the Longines Grand Prix at the Dublin Horse Show (Photo: Sonya Hennessy)

Lynch was one of two Irish riders who made it through to the nine horse jump-off in the €200,000 feature five-star Grand Prix, where he partnered the 13-year-old stallion RMF Echo. He was drawn second last to go against the clock and came within a 10th of a second of beating Swiss rider Werner Muff who took the winners prize with Daimler.

Lynch crossed the line clear in 37.17 seconds and took home €40,000 for second place, while Muff’s clear in 37.06 saw him collect €66,000. America’s Bezzie Madden took the third place on the podium with Coach when clear in 37.25. Cork’s Shane Sweetnam also made it through to the jump-off with Main Road but two fences down second time out saw them finish eighth.

Cian O’Connor and Copain du Perchet recorded two wins at this years Dublin Horse Show (Photo: Sonya Hennessy)

Just a few hours earlier, Cian O’Connor and the 12-year-old stallion Copain du Perchet CH took victory in the Speed Championship, crossing the line clear in 65.29 seconds. It was the pair’s second five-star win at the RDS this week having also come out on top in Saturday’s Accumulator.
It was another Irish clean sweep of the podium places with Cork’s Billy Twomey finishing as runner-up with the Irish Sport Horse Ardcolum Duke – 0.15 behind the winners time. Tipperary’s Shane Breen finished third with Can Ya Makan ahead of Swiss rider Edwin Smits in fourth with Dandiego, Co Down’s Dermott Lennon finished fifth with Vampire, while Greg Broderick (Charmeur) made it five Irish riders in the top six.

While victory in Friday’s Aga Khan Trophy eluded Rodrigo Pessoa’s team, Irish riders overall had an incredible run of results during the five days at the RDS – winning eight out of the nine individual five-star competitions. Daniel Coyle and Christopher Megahey shared victory in Saturday’s Puissance, while Denis Lynch, Bertram Allen, Shane Breen also scored a win apiece. Cian O’Connor and Greg Broderick both recorded two victories each to complete a memorable week for Ireland in Ballsbridge. Broderick was also crowned Leading International Rider of the show.

Ireland’s Lucinda Roche and WCE Falco (ISH) finish sixth at the FEI European Championships for Young Riders

Irish Young Rider Lucinda Roche and The Irish Sport Horse WCE Falco have finished sixth overall following the final round at the FEI European Championships for Young Riders (U21) at Samorin in Slovakia. The pair jumped a fantastic clear round in the first round of the final to move up to silver medal position. In the medal deciding round, Roche and WCE Falco were jumping clear until the penultimate fence however the middle part of the combination and final fence unfortunately fell to the floor to leave them on a final score of 15.11 penalties.

Switzerland’s Bryan Balsiger took the gold medal with Germany’s Justine Tebbel in Silver and Britain’s Amy Inglis in Bronze.

Irish Young Rider, Junior and Children’s Team Manager James Kernan said:

“Lucinda really performed brilliantly, it was a superb performance to finish sixth at a European Championships. She was unlucky not to win a medal and was looking good until the last two fences. Our GAIN sponsored teams did us proud. Our Young Rider team finished just a fence outside the medal places. We were under pressure from the start with our Junior team when we were reduced to just three riders due to an injury but they all rode extremely well – as did our Children’s team. This Championships has been a great experience for all our riders and will stand to them in the future.

“I want to say a special thanks to our sponsors, GAIN, TRM, Dubarry, Horseware, Berney Bros and Charles Owen who gave us so much support. Also I want to thank all the owners for making their horses available for these Championships.”