Three five-star podiums for Irish athletes

There were some strong performances at five-star level for Cian O’Connor, Denis Lynch, Jordan Coyle and Conor Swail this week, with victories at three- and two-star grade coming too from Thomas Ryan and James Chawke.

On the Longines Global Champions Tour, O’Connor made the podium in the first competition of the Global Champions League with his talented Gengis Kann de Londe on Friday.

At the spiritual home of the LGCT, the Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard, O’Connor and the Karlswood Partners-owned nine-year-old gelding were clear, along with 22 other combinations.

That group included another nine-year-old, the European Championships contestant, Qonquest de Rigo and his former European Championship-winning pilot, Bertram Allen.

Whereas the latter Irish duo did not challenge the top end in terms of time however, O’Connor and his son of Kannan were hugely competitive, which is no surprise once the World No 23 sets his mind to putting the pedal to the metal.

The Olympic medallist, who was also clear in the 1.60m second competition with Iron Man, upped the revs and Gengis Kann de Londe responded brilliantly, accurate and fast to record a time of 66.09.

That was only four-hundredths of a second off Willem Greve (NED) in second on Highway Tn N.O.P., with Alex Ferrer (FRA) taking the overall honours in the 1.55m class on Vitalhorse Fleur d’Oz thanks to a clear in 65.68.

Amazingly, Lynch was fourth in tree five-star classes at the Dutch venue over the weekend. On Saturday, the Tipperary man and his handsome ten-year-old chestnut mare Katja illustrated their potential as a high-class combination when fourth in the 1.45m two-phase class won by Swedish giant Henrik von Eckermann and Qasirah van de Reistenhoek.

Lynch and Katja registered two clear rounds over the power and speed sectors, and were extremely competitive in the latter portion, their time of 24.56 just over half a second shy of the victorious standard.

Next up was the five-star 1.50m jump-off class. There were 43 participants and victory went to home favourite Kevin Jochems on the Irish Sport Horse Shanroe Peeters, bred in Co Down by Anthony Smyth.

The 11-year-old gelding by Dallas VDL (BWP) out of the Condios (HOLST) broodmare Shanroe Sapphire (ISH), prevailed in an 11-strong jump-off with Jochem leading an all-Dutch podium, William Greve and Sanne Thijssen delighting the locals.

On this occasion, Lynch finished fourth with Brooklyn Heights, the joint-oldest horse in the class at 16, making light of his years by skipping around the Grass Arena clear for a second occasion in 43.82

Amazingly, Lynch was fourth for the third time in five-star competition on Sunday morning, and again it was Katja performing strongly, this time in a speed class on the Sand Arena.

The 1.45m competition was won by Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA) with Captain Morgan Weering Z, who jumped clear and quickest in 62.21.

World No 27 Lynch and Katja took another decent chunk of prize money by virtue of their perfect jumping round, in a time of 63.47.

There was a strong Irish presence too in Toronto for the Major League Show Jumping leg.

Under lights in the BFL Stadium, Jordan Coyle was second in the 1.50m Grand Prix Qualifier in the early hours of Friday morning Irish time.

The in-form Derry pilot guided Ariso to a brilliant double clear, a feat matched by only four combinations. They stopped the timers on 31.59 but world No 1, Kent Farrington found a way to snip a half-second off that, Myla leaving all the poles intact in 31.05 to claim the garlands.

They would go on to be fifth in the $500,000 Kubota Grand Prix of Toronto, won in the early hours of Sunday morning by Daniel Bluman (ISR) with Corbie VV, with American heavy hitters, Farrington, riding Tulayna, and Lillie Keenan, on Le Louvre 5 completing the podium.

Conor Swail and Casturano, who had won a 1.40m two-phase class earlier in the week were fourth with a double clear.

Coyle and Ariso posted a time that would have been fast enough to usurp Keenan from the bronze medal position but had one rail down. Daniel Coyle and Gisborne VDK missed the eight-strong jump-off with one time-fault, having gone 0.12 seconds agonisingly over the time allowed.

At the beginning of the day, Swail was legged up on Theo 160 to deliver another five-star podium finish, in the 1.45m Winning Round class. Richard Vogel (GER) told everyone else to Beat It, riding Michael Jackson W to a tie-breaking clear of 37.09. Savannah Jenkins (USA) was runner-up with Bresil de Carnaval Santa Rosa, with Swail and Theo just eight-hundredths of a second further back with a time of 37.78.

Thomas Ryan was a three-star winner at the Azelhof Summer Festival on Saturday, guiding Connoisseur Pwf to victory over Irish Nations Cup pair, Billy Twomey and Jumping Jack van de Kalevallei in an electric jump-off.

The margins could not have been tighter, with just three-hundredths of a second separating the Irish athletes in the 1.45m class, Ryan edging it by stopping the clock on 38.88 having recorded an error-free round for the second time.

Twomey and his partner had jumped a double clear as Ireland podiumed in the Falsterbo Nations Cup so this was a high calibre affair and a brilliant result for Ryan and his ten-year-old grey, with the runners-up doing practically nothing wrong and certainly losing no caste in just missing out on the top rung of the ladder on this occasion.

Also on Saturday, James Chawke won the two-star Del Mar Classic Grand Prix in California with the very consistent Daido van’t Ruytershof Z, the duo’s jump-off time of 39.7 seconds a full 1.78 seconds faster than their nearest double-clear rivals.

BREEDING

SHANROE PEETERS (ISH) – 2014 gelding by Dallas VDL (BWP) out of Shanroe Sapphire (ISH) by Condios (HOLST). Breeder: Anthony Smyth, Co Down. Owner: Kevin Jochems & S. Kenis Sporthorses BV. Rider: Kevin Jochems (NED).

The post Three five-star podiums for Irish athletes appeared first on .