Irish show jumping riders were in winning form on both sides of the Atlantic on Friday evening with Bertram Allen first landing the FEI rankings speed competition in Helsinki, Finland riding Ballywalter Farms' Dino W.
From 46 starters, the Wexford born-rider and the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion recorded the fastest clear over the 1.45m track when stopping the clock on 54.29. The Netherlands’ Eric van der Vleuten was home in 54.97 on Zigali PS to finish second with Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet placing third in 55.07 on Eldporado van het Vijverhof.
Derry's Daniel Coyle and Co Down's Conor Swail qualified two horses apiece for the 1.45m jump-off class in Calgary, Canada with Swail finishing first and third on Flower (37.05) and GK Coco Chanel (38.92) respectively. The rider owns the winning 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare in partnership with Vanessa Mannix who owns GK Coco Chanel outright.
The Swail rides were split by the Canadian combination of Jim Ifko on Un Diamant des Forets (37.35). Coyle, who won the opening international class of the show on Thursday with Fortis Fortuna, had two fences down in Friday’s jump-off round with Susan and Ariel Grange’s mare and lowered one fence with Cita.
At the world breeding championships for young event horses at Le Lion d’Angers in France, Co Meath’s Elizabeth Power is in joint third place going into Saturday’s cross-country phase of the six-year-old division.
Power, who rides Caroline Bjoerk’s home-bred gelding DSL The Entertainer, achieved a penalty score of 41 along with Britain’s Sarah Bullimore on Corouet. The lead is currently held by Britain’s Izzy Taylor on Monkeying Around (37.6) with Australia’s Paul Tapner next best on Bob Chaplin (38.1).
In the seven-year-old class, New Zealand’s James Avery topped the leaderboard following dressage with Vitali (42) ahead of the host nation’s Jean Lou Bigot on Aktion de Belheme (44) with Germany’s Stephanie Bohe lying third on Classic Royetta (44.2). The best-placed Irish rider is Co Cork’s Brian Morrison who is in 30th place with the Anglo European-registered mare Shanaclough Contadora (52.1).
