THE 1.45m International Team competition at the Longines Beijing Masters in the Bird’s Nest in China on Saturday saw Wexford’s Bertram Allen a very close runner-up in the individual rankings, when he jumped a fast clear with the 12-year-old Mikias vd Bisschop in 66.11 seconds. He was a mere 0.08 seconds off the winning time of 66.03 clocked by by Italy’s Alberto Zorzi on Gitania V G.

In the team competition, various international riders teamed up with two Chinese riders. Allen and his teammates secured fourth out of the 11 teams placed, while Zorzi’s team came second in the class, which was won by the team of Belgium’s Gilles Thomas.

Allen placed fourth in the Big Tour Longines 1.40m Warm-up competition on Friday on Mikias vd Bisschop, jumping clear in 69.44 seconds.

The pair then placed eighth in the Big Tour Longines 1.50m Grand Prix.

McAuley’s Italian win

Meanwhile, at the three-star show at Gorla Minore in Italy, Louth’s Mark McAuley had a great weekend, with numerous placings culminating in a win on Sunday.

After being agonisingly close to winning a couple of classes, McAuley won Sunday’s 1.40m speed class on board the eight-year-old Gaia de Forjonniere, stopping the clock in 59.76 seconds, with their nearest challenger, Giacomo Casadei on Let’s Go FZ over two and a half seconds behind in 62.39.

McAuley placed eighth in Friday’s 1.45m class with Fury Nocturne, while Saturday saw him runner-up in the six-year-old two-phase class riding Che Van De Mullegracht Z, jumping clear in 28.69 – just missing out on the win by 0.2 seconds to Italy’s Daniele Cuva on No Fear (28.49). McAuley also placed ninth with Sorrento Van Sappenleen.

McAuley was having a good, albeit frustrating, day and was also runner-up in the 1.50m Two-phase competition with Fury Nocturne – this time by an even smaller margin of 0.02 seconds. McAuley’s time of 28.23 was beaten by Niklaus Rutschi on Kingstone B (28.21). The rider also came very close to winning the day’s 1.35m Two-phase class with Gaia De Farjonniere (25.94), but was pipped by Portugal’s Rodrigo Sampaio Peixoto on Joriena V.