Irish riders took first place in both of today’s international feature classes at the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show, with fast-rising star Bertram Allen capturing the honours in the Sports Council Classic, and Olympic Bronze medallist Cian O’Connor winning the earlier Speed Stakes.
Wexford-born Allen, who turned 18 just last week after winning six European underage medals, rode Billy Twomey’s stallion Romanov to victory in a huge 21-horse jump-off that dominated the afternoon’s proceedings, beating France’s Roger Yves Bost and the gelding Qoud’Coeur de La Loge to the 8,000 euro prize by an eighth of a second.
The Classic also saw Co. Down’s Conor Swail take sixth place on Ariel and Susan Grange’s mare Martha Louise.
Earlier the Bewleys Hotels-sponsored Speed Stakes produced an Irish whitewash, O’Connor clinching first on Beverley Widdowson’s gelding Unique with over a second in hand over British challenger Louise Saywell and the mare Quantas. However, Saywell was one of only two visiting riders to make it into the top ten, with Irish combinations scooping every other place but eighth, which went to US star Reed Kessler and Soray de L’Obstination.
