Lynch bags five-star LGCT double

Denis Lynch and Brooklyn Heights secured the second of the Tipperary rider’s two LGCT five-star triumphs at the Longines Global Champions Tour event in Mexico City (Sportfot)

Denis Lynch enjoyed a real red-letter day at the Longines Global Champions Tour event in Mexico City late on Saturday night, winning two five-star classes and helping his Rome Gladiators team finish second in the Longines Global Champions League.

Lynch began by beating off stiff international competition – bar one – in a dramatic class against the clock over a testing 1.55m track set by Peter Grant and his team.

Lynch and Cordial were inseparable from Sanne Thijssen (NED) and Con Quidam RB, both combinations clocking 75.59 to share top spot on the podium.

Lynch and Cordial were 32^nd of the 39 combinations to enter the arena. The 15-year-old bay stallion owned by Lynch and Tipperary’s Finest Est was foot perfect and fast.

Remarkably, their time was equalled by Thijssen, the Cannes Stars competitor getting a fantastic tune from her 18-year-old partner. It was a spectacular conclusion to a competitive affair.

The second individual class contributing to the team contest resulted in another triumph – this time on a sole basis –  in the second five-star class against the clock for the Tipperary native.

Going into the arena on a fresh Brooklyn Heights, who is owned by Molly Ohrstrom, Lynch was able to separate himself completely from the pack in the 1.60m examination, 0.17 seconds seeming like a yawning gap compared to the initial event. Richard Vogel (GER) and Cepano Baloubet filled the runner-up slot.

With Spencer Smith (USA) and HHS Seattle also going clear, Rome Gladiators rocketed from tenth to second, the overall spoils going to the Prague Lions combo of local man, Fernando Martinez Sommer and Thibeau Spits (BEL).

Lynch’s heroics came on an evening when there was significant Irish success on the Blenheim Springs Classic Tour event in San Juan Capidrano, as Conor Swail and Count Me In won the $117,000 three-star Blenheim Spring Classic 2 Grand Prix.

It was a third success of the week for the Down native and a second in partnership with Count Me In. The 17-year-old Count Grannus gelding responded magnificently to his rider’s guidance in the 1.50m feature, as one of only six horses to go clear before leaving those remaining challengers for dust in the jump-off.

Recording a time of 39.83 seconds, they were more than two and a half seconds quicker than second-placed Nicole Haunert (USA) and My Lady Lavista.

Abbeyleix man, James Chawke, who has been thriving on the Blenheim Spring Classic circuit too and had seen off Swail in an earlier three-star class, added to his bounty by taking fifth on Daido van’t Ruytershof Z.

There were two more three-star successes for Irish riders today, with David O’Brien bagging his third victory of the week at the Wellington International venue that is quickly becoming his second home.

The Galwegian, who helped the Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping Team win the four-star Wellington Nations Cup at the Florida venue last month, continued his stellar form as El Balou OLD beat 15 other horses in a highly competitive jump-off to bag the $140,000 Equestrian Village Derby.

The combination’s time of 37.17 was too hot for everyone else to handle and secured the $46,300 first prize, with Luis Fernando Larrazabal (COL) and Belle De Muze in second and Hannah Selleck (USA) and Cloud 39 in third.

Max Wachman on the Sinéad Brennan-bred Irish Sport Horse Kilkenny finished fourth, while Dermott Lennon and another Irish Sport Horse, Millview Cicero (bred by Harry Marshall) were sixth, with Christian Coyle and Extravaganza Semilly sneaking into the top ten.

Meanwhile, on the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour, Alex Butler and Jurry Bleu K, were victorious in the 1.50m Grand Prix at Oliva Nova. With 12 of the 59 competitors going clear, Butler and his progressive ten-year-old partner still had a lot to do but they set a time of 41.23 that nobody else could trump.

In the end, the Cortown pilot was nine tenths of a second ahead of runner-up Gabrielle Chugg (AUS) and Pss Levilensky, with Adrian Whiteway (GBR) third on Chacco Volo.

BREEDING

Kilkenny (ISH) – 2012 gelding by VDL Cardento 933 (HOLST) out of MHS Pembrook Lady (ISH) by Guidam (SF), bred by Sinéad Brennan, Co Kilkenny. Owner: Susan Magnier. Rider: Max Wachman

Maxwell Cicero (ISH) – 2014 gelding by Cicero Z Van Paemel (ZANG) out of Royal Dutch (KWPN) by () bred by Harry Marshall, Co Kildare. Owner/Rider: Dermott Lennon