GALWAY’s Michael Duffy certainly had a weekend to remember, when he finished on the podium in the €1.25 million Longines Global Champions Super Grand Prix Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday afternoon.

Duffy qualified for the final after winning the Miami Beach Grand Prix last April and was among 15 of the biggest and best names in show jumping, all of whom had won LGCT Grand Prix competitions this season, to take on the challenging 1.65m track. All combinations jumped two rounds, with the total scores from each round being added together to determine the winner.

The sole Irish man in the class, Duffy and Quirex kept every one of the imposing fences intact across the two rounds, but incurred an unfortunate two time-penalties in round one. Their second round was a masterclass of jumping, especially considering the horse has just recently returned to this level of competition following a lengthy break, and they completed within the allocated time to take the third spot on the podium and the generous €200,000 prize fund.

Only two managed to stay clear within the time allowed in both rounds; the faster of these being last to go, Luxembourg’s Victor Bettendorf on the nine-year-old mare Foxy de le Roque (66.98), who took home the top prize of €300,000 for his efforts, while the runner-up prize of €250,000 went to Gilles Thomas (BEL) on Ermitage Kalone (70.28).

Duffy’s mount, 15-year-old Quirex, was previously ridden at the top level by Mayo’s Cameron Hanley and had been part of the Irish Aga Khan team in 2018, but an injury meant the gelding was out of the sport for several years.

Duffy said afterwards: “To do this today, on a horse that has had four years in a field and to do it in a class so huge as the LGCT Super Grand Prix – a comeback couldn’t have been sweeter. It’s just a testament to the horse’s character and his heart and ability to come back. It’s really an incredible story and I’m just happy to be a part of it and enjoy it. To be honest, tonight, I don’t think I could have caught Victor, and probably wouldn’t have caught Gilles either if I was clear, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. It’s still a hard pill to swallow in the first round, but ultimately, I was too slow myself, so there’s no one to blame, only myself.”

President and founder of the Longines Global Champions Tour Jan Tops said in the press conference after the class: “For me, it’s maybe the best class of the year. It’s amazing to have these horses and riders, you know, the winners of the whole season from all the legs, here together. They really aim their horses especially for this class. You can’t get better than the combinations, horses and riders, that are here. I think also the course builder did a great job, we saw a beautiful evening of sport. And, of course, Victor tonight, he did amazing and he was the well-deserved winner of this special class. It’s nice to get new areas around the world connected with the sport. It’s fantastic that we have this kind of high level sport here in Riyadh.”

Duffy told The Irish Field: “Quirex was out of the sport for four years because of an injury and was back jumping at the end of 2022/early 2023, with Nina Piasecki (GER), who is the daughter of one of the men that owned him. He jumped away up to 1.45m in the last year and I watched him, as they live close enough to me, and obviously I knew the horse from Cameron and there was no question of his ability.

“We just got chatting one day and we ended up buying him, about 10 weeks ago. I think this is only my third or fourth show on him. He’s great, it’s a real credit to the horse that he can have such a break and come back and do it, so all good so far anyway.”

Claptonn Mouche win

Earlier on Friday, Duffy had taken the top spot in the 1.50m jump-off class with the 12-year-old gelding Claptonn Mouche. There were 31 starters in the class, with nine of them jumping clear to secure a place in the jump-off. Five managed to jump clear again, with Duffy the fastest of these in a super of 38.27.

Irish riders also claimed fourth, fifth and seventh placings – namely Clare’s Eoin McMahon on Kokomo B, Tipperary’s Denis Lynch on Mr Boombastic and Kildare’s Michael Pender on HHS Calais.

The first individual class at Riyadh, a 1.45m Speed class, was held last Wednesday and saw Pender place fourth with HHS Cyprus from a start list of 46, with a time of 60.28 seconds. The class was won by Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano on Nikolaj de Music in 57.71. McMahon also finished within the top 10 for Ireland, placing ninth on board Kokomo B (64.76).

In Thursday’s second international class, a 1.50m Speed class, Lynch finished eighth with Mr Boombastic (68.06) from 26 starters. The winning time of 62.51 was clocked by Victor Bettendorf (LUX) on Cancun Torel Z.

Lynch was a member of the New York Empire team, who placed ninth of the 12 teams competing in the semi-final at this leg of the Global Champions League, along with team mates Jodie Hall McAteer (GBR) on Hardessa and David Will (GER) on Zinedream.

They did not proceed to the final of this round, as they were not in the top six.