Irish continue to shine in St Gallen with three riders in €200,000 Longines Grand Prix top 10

IRISH Show Jumpers continued their incredible run of form at the five-star Swiss show in St Gallen today (Sunday), with no less than three riders in green jackets finishing inside the top 10 in the curtain-closing €200,000 Longines Grand Prix – adding to Friday’s Nations Cup win at the same venue.

Tipperary’s Greg Broderick and The Irish Sport Horse MHS Going Global grabbed fourth place after a superb double clear round. The Caledonia Stables-owned 10-year-old gelding stopped the clock in 50.08 seconds, when one of 10 combinations that made it into the jump-off.

Cian O’Connor was also foot-perfect with the impressive 10-year-old Good Luck. First to go against the clock, O’Connor crossed the line in 58.35 with the Adena Springs & Ronnoco Jump Ltd-owned stallion, to take seventh place overall.

Bertram Allen was last of the Irish riders to enter the arena in the decider and lowered a single rail when chasing the target-time with Molly Malone V. Allen and the 12-year-old mare taking ninth place at the finish in a time of 48.29.

Germany’s Hans-Deiter Dreher collected the winners prize of €50,000, when he crossed the finish line clear in 47.29 with the aptly named Cool And Easy. Lucy Davis grabbed runner-up spot for The United States with Barron, while Janika Sprunger took the last spot on the podium for the home nation aboard Bonne Chance.

Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping Team Manager Robert Spaine commented: “To have three riders finish in the top 10 in today’s Grand Prix brought an end to a superb week for the Irish here in St Gallen, adding to Friday’s Nations Cup win and a host of other great results throughout the show.

“Anthony Condon with Aristio also delivered some excellent performances and were unlucky to have one down in the Grand Prix. I would like to thank all our riders and of course the owners for a great week here in Switzerland, where we were proud to hear our National Anthem played three times,” he said.

Greg Broderick had earlier added to Irish success in St Gallen with a win in the Sunday morning’s Accumulator competition. The Tipperary rider taking the winners prize with the Paul Carr-owned Zuidam (pictured above) It was an Irish one-two with Bertram Allen finishing as runner-up with Hector van d’Abdijhoeve.

Meanwhile Irish Pony rider Abbie Sweetnam was also in winning form at an international show in Wierden, Belgium. The Cork-born rider guided the Irish-bred pony, Dynamite Spartacus, to top spot on the podium with the fastest of four double clear rounds.