THE Longines Global Champions Tour show in Monaco last week brought five-star success for Sligo’s Richard Howley and Mansini Ltd, when they won the 1.45m Speed class on Saturday for the second year in a row. Howley and the 15-year-old bay gelding, owned by HK Horses, were 13th of the 33 on the start list to enter the arena and they made light work of the 14-fence track and flew round clear in an incredibly fast time of 55.33 seconds. The nearest challenger was German rider Nicola Pohl on Arlo de Blondel, whose time of 59.13 was almost four seconds off Howley’s pace.

Galway’s Michael Duffy secured a fifth-place finish in the 1.55m Global Champions League first round on Friday evening, riding the eight-year-old Be Sky Hawk, owned by his parents, Paul and Kathryn.

The gelding, known as Snowy, was making his GCL debut, but took the whole experience in his stride, in Duffy’s capable hands. They were among just nine clear rounds in the class, stopping the clock in 68.42 seconds to finish fifth. The class was won by Germany’s Sophie Hinners riding Kanturo BH.

Thursday saw Michael Duffy and RMF Clinton Son finish third in the 1.40m Two-phase class, jumping double clear in a jump-off time of 27.10 seconds, behind Swiss winner Jane Richard on Fouego de la Closiere (25.10) and France’s Roger Yves Bost on Ever de Turan in second (25.39).