SHOW JUMPING - IRISH RIDERS IN THE MONEY ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC IRISH show jumpers were in the money on both sides of the Atlantic tonight (Friday), with Corks Shane Sweetnam collecting 8,600 euro ($11,220) for his win at the big five-star show in Wellington, Florida, and Tipperarys Denis Lynch pocketing 12,000 euro for a second place at Frances World Cup show in Bordeaux. Sweetnam, piloting Spy Coast Farms Cyklon, also saw fellow Irish rider Darragh Kenny take 5,300 euro ($6,800) for a runner-up place on Postage Stamp Farms Prof de la Roque, finishing just one second behind the Cork rider. One more Irish rider made it to the top ten in Florida - Darragh Kenny and Jan van Trichts D Elia van het Molenhof placed ninth from a starting field of 67. Yesterday in Wellington, Sweetnam and Cyklon had a second place in the speed class, with Kenny and Prof de la Roque finishing third. Tyrones Ronan McGuigan and Capall Zidane took fifth place. Olympic Bronze medallist Cian OConnor also had a fourth place yesterday in Floridas Grand Prix Qualifier with a double clear on Quidams Cherie. In France both Billy Twomey and Denis Lynch made it to the jump-off in tonights feature class at five-star Bordeaux, but only Lynch went clear in the second round, riding Thomas Straumanns gelding Abbervail van het Dingeshof. Lynch was ultimately outpaced by French star Penelope Leprevost and the mare Nice Stephanie, who stopped the clock less than half a second faster than the Irish rider, to pick up the first prize of 20,000 euro.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 00:00:29 +0000