O’CONNOR FINISHES THIRD IN USA’S WELLINGTON GRAND PRIX

MEATH’S Cian O’Connor took home Ireland’s biggest prize pot of the weekend when he collected just over 16,000 euro for his third place in the four-star Wellington Grand Prix in Florida tonight (Sunday).

The only Irish rider to go through to the jump-off from a starting field of 50, Olympic bronze medal winner O’Connor steered Adena Springs Stable’s mare Quidam’s Cherie to a second clear round, but was less than a second slower than British winner, World No. 2 Ben Maher, who rode Urico to the first prize reward of 36,000 euro. Second place went to the USA’s Laura Kraut and Nouvelle.

Elsewhere, Co. Down’s Dermott Lennon collected 6,000 euro for a win in the two-star Grand Prix in Vilamoura, Portugal, riding Judith Sossick’s 12 year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Loughview Lou Lou, while Cork’s Billy Twomey was 5,000 euro richer with a fourth place in the Spanish Sunshine Tour’s three-star Grand Prix on his new mount, Royale du Rouet.

In the 1m40 jump-off competition at Vilamoura on Saturday, Galway’s Michael Duffy took the top two places, first with Widny and second with Shahenaz, and then claimed a fifth place in the 1m45 Against the Clock on the Irish Sport Horse Touch of Chilli.

Irish Sport Horses were also to the fore in eventing this weekend, with the USA’s Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp winning the CIC2* competition at Portugal’s Barroca d’Alva on Deborah Halliday’s Fernhill by Night. Fraser Duffy, making his first international appearance for Ireland, took consecutive places in the event with two more Irish Sport Horses – Carol Gee’s Fernhill Revelation in sixth, and Boleybawn Fernhill in seventh.

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