DENIS Lynch had a five-star winning weekend in Mexico City, where he secured a double of individual wins on Saturday and was also on the second placed New York Empire team at the Longines Global Champions fixture.
In the 1.55m Speed class, the Tipperary man rode a foot-perfect round with the 15-year-old bay stallion Cordial (Casall x Chicago Z) to claim joint first place, when they stopped the clock in exactly the same time as Sanne Thijssen (NED) on Con Quidam RB.
From 38 starters over the Peter Grant-designed course, there were 11 clear rounds, with the fastest time of 75.59 seconds remarkably being ridden by both Lynch and Thijssen, who shared the top spot on the podium.
Lynch then partnered 15-year-old gelding Brooklyn Heights (Nabab de Reve x For Pleasure) to win the 1.60m Speed class, where the pair finished a mere fraction ahead of Germany’s Richard Vogel on board Cepano Baloubet to take the winner’s prize of €41,250. Brooklyn Heights is owned by Molly Ohrstrom.
Forty-eight combinations took on the 1.60m track, with just nine managing to avoid faults. Time was the deciding factor here, with Lynch and Brooklyn Heights clocking 75.34 seconds, just 0.17 ahead of Vogel’s 75.51 seconds.
Teamwork
These two individual classes contributed to the team contest, so when Lynch’s New York Empire team mate, Spencer Smith (USA) on HHS Seattle also jumped clear in the 1.60m class (80.57), their team made the leap from 10th place up to second! The overall team win went to the Prague Lions team of Fernando Martinez Sommer (MEX) and Thibeau Spits (BEL).
The Prague Lions won on a total of five faults, incurred by Under 25 rider Thibeau Spits on Impress-K van ‘t Kattenheye Z in the second round, after he and his team mate Fernando Martinez Sommer on Lady van de Haarterhoeve had both jumped clear in the first. Mexican Martinez Sommer rode clear again in the second, inspired to do his best in front of his home crowd. The win propels the team to the top of the championship leaderboard with a commanding lead of 12 points.
Second place in Mexico City went to the New York Empire team of Denis Lynch aboard Brooklyn Heights and Spencer Smith on HHS Seattle. Smith had incurred 12 faults in round one, but he was fault-free in round two and Lynch jumped double clear, meaning the team finished on 12 - they then had a nervous wait to see if that would be good enough for a podium place; it was and they claimed second place.
Lynch said afterwards: “We’re very, very grateful to Georgina [Bloomberg, team owner], because last week in Miami Beach we were in the lead and we didn’t get it done in the second round, so it’s good to make a nice comeback and that we’re very, very grateful. Spencer really pulled it out in the second round, so we’re delighted.”
Irish man Denis Lynch was on the second placed New York Empire team in the Longines Global Champions League at the fixture in Mexico City \ Stefano Grasso/LGCT
The Monaco Aces team of Duarte Seabra and Luiz Felipe Cortizo Gonçalves De Azevedo Filho finished third on a score of 13, after opting to change horses for round two.
The Rome Gladiators team, who won the week before in Miami, were the first of two teams to enter round two on a zero score from round one. But, two refusals from Micheal Duffy and Claptonn Mouche meant a shock elimination for the team, ending their chances of back-to-back wins.
The next destination on the GCL circuit is Shanghai, which makes a comeback after four years on May 3rd to 5th.
Placings
Competition got underway in Mexico City on Wednesday, April 10th; Thursday saw a good start to Lynch’s campaign, when he and Cordial placed second in the CSI5* 1.50m Two-phase class. Of the 48 starters, 29 jumped clear in the first round, but only 15 of those could repeat that second time out, with a huge difference in their timings. The class was won by France’s Simon Delestre on Olga van de Kruishoeve, with a very fast time of 32.83 seconds; Lynch and Cordial were the next best in a time of 35.09.
On Friday, Lynch placed 10th with Brooklyn Heights in the CSI5* 1.50m Speed class, when their speedy round led to an unfortunate fence down. It was another 10th place for Lynch in the CSI5* 1.55m Jump-off class, this time with Cordial.
Fellow Irishmen, Michael Duffy, Jack Ryan and Michael Pender were also competing in Mexico, but they just couldn’t match Lynch’s performance on this occasion.