SWITZERLAND’S Romain Duguet and the brilliant Quorida De Treho won the second leg of the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Western European League leg at Helsinki in Finland for the second year running last Sunday.

Defending his title, Duguet beat off 14 other combinations against the clock in a time of 30.96 seconds to secure victory on the 12-year-old mare by Kannan, taking home €38,000 in prize money.

From a starting field of 36 riders, 15 made it through to the jump-off over the course designed by Brazil’s Guilherme Jorge.

Ireland’s Shane Breen was first to go against the clock with Market Irminka, a 12-year-old mare, by Irco Mena, who is owned by British lady Tracey Priest. The combination finished with the second fastest time of the day but an unfortunate pole on the ground meant they had to settle for joint eight place as Dutchman Maikel van der Vleuten also finished on four faults in an identical time with VDL Groep Arera C.

Almost two seconds behind Duguet was Frenchman Mathieu Billot who, when fourth into the ring, set the target with super round in 32.70 seconds with Shiva d’Amaury and they held that lead until Duguet entered the ring with three to go.

LEADING LADY

Germany’s leading lady rider Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was last to go in the jump-off and tried hard to catch Duguet’s time, finishing in 32.78 seconds to fill third position with the stunning Comanche.

Third in the opening round at Oslo the previous week, Belgium’s Pieter Devos and Dream Of India Greenfield slotted into fourth this time (0/0 32.92), while Switzerland’s former Olympic champion Steve Guerdat also boosted his overall league standings when finishing fifth with Bianca (0/0 33.67).

Duguet knew what he had to do when entering the tight arena at the ice-hockey stadium in Helsinki. “Mathieu is a really fast rider so I knew I had to take a risk to beat him!” the Swiss rider said. “Yes the arena here is tight, but Quorida is fast across the ground and really reactive - she’s full of quality,” he said about his Olympic mount.

Duguet continued: “I have been riding her since she was seven years old and she’s 12 now and has always been in my stables, so we are a team. The best thing about her is that she always tries her hardest on the big days.”

Last week’s result sees Duguet share equal-fourth place on the Western European League table with Italy’s Alberto Zorzi, who won last weekend’s opening round of the 13-leg series at Oslo. Heading the league table is Belgium’s Pieter Devos, while Irish riders Cian O’Connor and Shane Breen have both gotten scores on the table with seven and nine points respectively.

Also competing in the Finnish World Cup qualifier was Wexford’s Bertram Allen, who had three fences down in the first round with Molly Malone V. Allen had better luck in Friday’s 1.45m class, jumping a clear round in 52.09 with the 12-year-old Kannan-sired grey mare to place fourth. The class was won by Swiss rider Marin Fuchs with Chaplin (0/ 51.44).

The third leg of the Western European League continues tomorrow (Sunday) in Lyon, France. Ireland will be represented at the five-star show by Shane Breen, Darragh Kenny, Denis Lynch and Billy Twomey.