MIAMI Beach in Florida provided its unique setting for the Longines Global Champions Tour at the weekend and the venue is sure to have added to the memories made by Michael Duffy from Co Galway. Duffy had an incredible weekend of success, winning Saturday’s five-star 1.60m Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix with Claptonn Mouche, as well as being on the winning Rome Gladiators team in the Global Champions League on Friday evening, jumping a crucial clear round with the 12-year-old gelding!
From the 38 starters over the first round of the Grand Prix course, featuring some of the world’s best horse and rider combinations, only nine jumped clear to get through to the jump-off, where Duffy was accompanied by two other Irishmen, namely Shane Sweetnam on RR Combella and Michael Pender on the Irish Sport Horse HHS Calais (by Cavalier Royale (HOLST) out of MHS OBOS Cruise (ISH) by OBOS Quality (OLD)), bred by Ita Brennan.
Duffy rode an immaculate round with Claptonn Mouche (Conrad x Elan de la Cour), who he co-owns with Stephex Stables. He has only been riding the horse a matter of months, but together they managed to secure the only double clear of the competition and Duffy claimed his first ever five-star Longines Grand Prix win, along with a prize pot of €115,500.
“It’s been a while coming now, it’s probably about time we got our fingers out and did something. It’s amazing, I’m a bit lost for words… I’m not the biggest talker, but even more so this time. I have no words,” said Duffy after his win.
When asked about his plan for the jump-off, he said: “There wasn’t too much thought in it to be honest, but keep it between the posts and that was about it. It was tough jumping here, with a white pole oxer in the jump-off, which was delicate. I wanted to be as quick as I could in the jump-off and leave the poles up. It’s a lucky hunting ground (for me). We won the team yesterday and I won the team here a few years ago. It’s a great show.”
It was an emotional victory for Duffy, who dedicated the win to his late friend, Jack Dodd, during a tearful winner interview, which resonated with spectators and fellow competitors alike.
The 30-year-old continued: “I want to thank everyone, Helena and Tim Stormanns have helped me immensely; Stephex that own (Claptonn Mouche). I have some great owners. Courtney and Sloane Hopson. Monica McCourt. My parents, Paul and Catherine, they reared me, so they deserve a good bit of it too!
“This is my first five-star Grand Prix win and I want to dedicate it to Patricia and David Dodd. My best friend Jack Dodd died in a car crash a few years ago [2018] and I’d still be very close to his parents, Trish and David, and I always said when I won my first Grand Prix I would dedicate it to them.”
Austria’s Max Kühner and EIC Cooley Jump the Q were runners up in the five-star Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix at Miami Beach in Florida \ Stefano Grasso/ LGCT
Irish Sport Horse EIC Cooley Jump The Q (ISH), bred by Pam Walshe in Co Carlow, was ridden into runner-up spot by Austria’s Max Kühner, with the fastest of the four-fault rounds. The 11-year-old gelding is by Pacino (BWP) out of Jump The Q (ISH) by O.B.O.S. Quality 004 (OLD).
Speaking after his runner-up placing, Max Kühner reflected on his jump-off round where he had a pole down: “Cooley is a fast horse, I know that. He is a sensitive horse, through the turn he had a little slip and I then needed to give him a little bit of a push to get to the next fence. He’s so sensitive, he always remembers a push like that, and I could feel for the next fence I had to hold him back a little bit. I think that could be why the fault happened.”
The third place on the podium was filled by Frenchman Julien Anquetin on Blood Diamond du Pont as the second fastest four-faulter.
Corkman Sweetnam finished seventh in the class with one fence down, just ahead of Kildare’s Pender in eighth with eight faults.
Michael Duffy won the five-star Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix at Miami Beach in Florida \ Longines Global Champions Tour
Jump-off
Pender, who has previously won two Longines Global Champions Tour Grands Prix, and HHS Calais were first in for the jump-off, but it wasn’t their day and they had two down. Next up, Thibeau Spits and Calvino II de Nyze Z were competing in their first-ever CSI5* Grand Prix and jumped clear to get a place in the jump-off, but picked up eight faults to finish just inside the top 10.
Simon Delestre and I Amelusina R 51 incurred four faults and missed a podium place, while Julien Anquetin riding Blood Diamond du Pont, secured his first LGCT Grand Prix podium place, despite an unlucky rail down second time out.
Michael Duffy and Claptonn Mouche then rode a heart-stopping round, taking a flyer to the last and securing that elusive clear round. He had a nail-biting wait to see if anyone else would follow suit.
Eduardo Alvarez Aznar and the 19-year-old Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margot picked up four faults to finish fourth. Meanwhile, Max Kuhner and EIC Cooley Jump the Q tried their best to beat the clock, but rolled a pole to finish in second. Sweetnam on RR Combella was next in, but also finished on four faults.
The pressure was on last to go, Malin Baryard-Johnsson and H&M Indiana. An unfortunate fence down for them handed victory to Duffy, the sole rider to keep all the poles intact.
The win means that Duffy is now qualified for the Super Grand Prix in Riyadh at the end of the season and he now moves to fourth place in the overall standings after two legs, having accrued 40 points for his top spot; Spanish rider, Eduardo Alvarez Aznar currently holds the overall lead.
The third leg of the LGCT Championship will be held in Mexico City, with a change of scenery and a vast grass arena awaiting competitors.
The podium line up at the prize giving for the five-star Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix at Miami Beach in Florida \ Stefano Grasso/ LGCT
Ribbons
Show jumping at Miami ran from April 3rd until 6th, with many of the placings in the smaller classes going to US riders. Shane Sweetnam made his mark on Thursday, when he placed third in the CSI5* 1.45m class with the 10-year-old mare Irandole Du Flot (Vivaldi du Seigneur x Ogano Sitte). They finished less than half-a-second behind Dutch winner Maikel van der Vleuten with Elwikke.
Friday saw top 10 finishes in the 1.55m R1 Individual Classification class for Tipperary’s Denis Lynch, who rode the 15-year-old stallion Cordial into eighth place, followed by Kilkenny’s Jack Ryan on the 13-year-old gelding Guppie VDL in ninth, while in the 1.60m R2 Individual Classification class, Shane Sweetnam placed fifth with RR Combella.
The Global Champions League was the highlight of Friday evening and saw the Rome Gladiators team of USA’s Laura Kraut on Biscquetta, Lorenzo De Luca on both Cappuccino 194 and Denver De Talma and Michael Duffy on Claptonn Mouche claiming the top spot with their final tally of eight penalties in 153.24 seconds. The two-man Prague Lions team of Fernando Martinez Sommer on Lady van de Haarterhoeve and Thibeau Spits on Impress-K Van ‘T Kattenheye Z were runners-up with 10 penalties in 156.62 seconds.
Saturday morning’s CSI5* 1.50m class saw Duffy riding O’Balou Van De Plataan into seventh place.