TIPPERARY’S Denis Lynch was the only rider of the Irish trio competing in this afternoon’s World Cup class at Lyon in France to make it through to the jump-off, but a single fence down left him in sixth place overall, with Sweden’s Rolf-Göran Bengtsson claiming the 60,000 euro winner’s prize on the bay stallion Casall La Silla.
Lynch, riding Thomas Straumann’s talented gelding Lantinus, was one of nine from a starting field of 40 to record a zero score first time out, but the final round saw five combinations leave all the fences standing, with the Irish rider finishing as the fastest of the four-faulters, though adding 10,000 euro to his weekend’s takings at the five-star show, which totalled almost 50,000 euro.
Cork’s Billy Twomey, who finished third in Saturday night’s Equita Masters on Sue Davies’s Tinka’s Serenade, was unable to repeat the performance today, with the mare accumulating eight faults on her first time out.
Tipperary’s Shane Breen retired from the World Cup class this afternoon when his mare Luikka had four fences down early in the first round.