Wins for Alexander Butler and Denis Lynch on successful weekend for Irish Showjumpers

  • 26 April 2021, 10:36

Irish Show Jumping riders enjoyed an excellent run of results across the globe at the weekend, including Meath’s Alexander Butler who scored his second Grand Prix win in the space of a week.

Alexander Butler and Athene

Butler had claimed victory last week in the two-star Grand Prix at Bonheiden in Belgium when riding Chilli B and this weekend he recorded another two-star Grand Prix win, this time riding the 16-year-old mare Athene at Peelbergen in The Netherlands. They came out on top after an eight-horse jump-off and finished with almost a second to spare over Swedish runner-up Petronella Andersson with Claptonn Mouche, while New Zealand’s Daniel Meech finished third with Cinca.

Meanwhile at the five-star Dutch Masters in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Tipperary’s Denis Lynch and the 14-year-old stallion Cristello recorded an impressive win in Saturday’s  1m45 class. Lynch finished just ahead of Laura Kraut (USA) with Constable II while Portugal’s Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida finished third with Gb Celine.

Cork’s Billy Twomey and Chat Botte E.D finished best of the Irish in the three-star Grand Prix at Gorla Minore in Italy, taking third place after a double clear round. Mark McAuley and Shane Breen also made it into the jump-off with McAuley finishing seventh with Jasco vd Bisschop while Breen finished eighth with Compelling Z. Breen had earlier taken victory in the Six Bar competition at the same venue riding the stallion Cuick Star Kervec.

At Lier in Belgium, Ireland’s Sofie Slattery finished fourth in the U25 Grand Prix with Valentine du Bois Pinchet, just ahead of Shane O’Meara in fifth with Fix Blue. There was also a fourth place finish for Adam Morgan and Qualibro in the U25 Grand Prix at  Lamprechtshausen in Austria.

Across the Atlantic, Limerick’s Paul O’Shea partnered Squirt Gun to a runner-up finish in the $137,000 three-star Grand Prix at Wellington in Florida. Offaly’s Darragh Kenny took fifth place with Vinci De Beaufour while victory went to Mexico’s Santago Lambre with Easy Girl.