Lynch and Duffy shine in Shanghai

Twomey and Ryan rewarded for consistency in Montefalco

Denis Lynch was the individual leader of the Longines Global Champions Tour going into the Shanghai show and he contributed handsomely to his team, New York Empire finishing third in the Longines Global Champions League on Friday night.
However, a failure to add to his score in the Longines Shanghai Grand Prix led to him dropping to fifth in the overall individual standings, with Edwina Tops-Alexander (AUS) taking over at the top of the table.
The Tipperary athlete remains in a strong position, however and exhibited the depth he has at his disposal during the weekend, with Michael Duffy also performing well on China’s central coast, 12 months after recording two podium finishes at this prestigious show.
Lynch was clear in the first LGCT speed class over 1.55m on Friday on Mr Boombastic, with the competition won by Thibault Philippaerts of Belgium, with Lyandro MDB.
Duffy jumped a good round with Cantano 32, who had one rail down and the Galwegian returned with his 11-year-old in the 1.60m speed competition to go clear and finish sixth, getting just inside the 75-second barrier by one-hundredth of a second.
Lynch and Brooklyn Heights also jumped clear in the competition, which went the way of Julien Anquetin (FRA) with Blood Diamond du Pont.
It was Lynch’s first competition score that contributed to New York making the podium at the end of the night however, behind the hosts, Shanghai Swans, featuring Britain’s Ben Maher and Germany’s Max Kühner.
Shanghai lead the overall standings of the GCL after leg 3 with New York in fourth.
Victory eluded the Irish in the 1.50m jump-off class at the four-star show Montefalco Show in Italy on Friday but the green, white and orange did fill the other podium positions thanks to Thomas Ryan and Billy Twomey.
Ten combinations recorded two clear rounds at Le Lame International and victory went to Ali Hamad Al Kirbi (UAE), with Jarlin De Torres, by virtue of a blindingly quick tiebreak time of 35.74.
The Irish pair did depart with a lot of prize money from the Umbrian venue, with Ryan claiming the silver medal with Jezebeau BC, as they stopped the clock on 37.23, just 12-hundredths of a second quicker than Twomey and Jumping Jack Van De Kalevallei.
Twomey was back on the podium on Saturday, this time steering Julius to third in the 1.45m ranking speed class. There were 65 participants and only two were quicker than the Corkman and his 11-year-old bay, who skipped around the arena without a fault in 68.47.
The class was won by Belgium’s Abdel Said, with Zasou Vom Claashof, who registered an unbeatable time of 67.55.
Ryan also maintained his consistency, the Tipperary pilot taking Connoisseur PWR to fifth with a time of 72.12.
And Twomey finished a prosperous week, by partnering Ace Of Hearts Z to a fourth-place finish in a 1.45 two-phase event on Sunday. The duo were the quickest of those that were outside the 28 second mark in the speed portion of proceedings, on 28.03 but three combinations got under it, victory going to Luca Maria Coin (ITA) with El Capone RK.
He did make the jump-off in the 1.55m Grand Prix later on, but Jumping Jack Van De Kalevallei rubbed a pole in the bid to post a competitive time and the pair had to settle for seventh.
On Week 3 of the Easter Tour at Sentower Park, Cashel pilot, Max Wachman just missed the podium in a three-star jump-off class with the Ita Brennan-bred Kilkenny. The pair were one of eight combinations to make the jump-off, their second clear in 37.98 good enough for fourth.
Ioli Mytilineou (GRE) took first prize with Por Favor Van ‘T Roosakker, the duo having more than two seconds in hand on the rest of the field with a blistering time of 35.32 seconds.
At two-star level, Matt Garrigan was the only non-native among the top 16 finishers when securing the middle berth of the podium in a 1.45m speed contest at the National Equestrian Centre in Ermelo on Friday.
The Dubliner propelled Grace V to a very quick clear round in 35.10 but the Dutch supporters were celebrating as Lisa Nooren went faster on Querido van’t Ruytershof, stopping the clock on 34.47 to take the first prize.

BREEDING
KILKENNY (ISH) – 2012 gelding by Cardento (HOLST) out of MHS Pembrook Lady (ISH) by Guidam (SF). Breeder: Ita Brennan, Co. Kilkenny. Owner: Susan Magnier. Rider: Max Wachman (IRL).