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.
Butler had claimed victory the previous week in the two-star Grand Prix at Bonheiden in Belgium, when riding ‘Chilli B’ and at the 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 1.45m 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 ED’ 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’.
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