THE Longines League of Nations show at St Gallen in Switzerland was hit badly by heavy rainfall last week, which resulted in cancellations of multiple classes, including the Swiss League of Nations event scheduled to be held on Friday. Some classes were able to go ahead though and Irish riders made their mark in those that did.

Tipperary’s Denis Lynch secured his latest five-star success with his 11-year-old stallion Vistogrand in the one and only class that went ahead on Saturday, the 1.50m two-phase class, where from 29 starters, they were among 16 who jumped clear in round one. Lynch was also clear in the first round with his other mount, Ruben LS La Silla.

The jump-off saw 14 second round clears, with Lynch jumping clear again with the 18-year-old stallion, Ruben LS La Silla in a time of 30.07 seconds, which was good enough for ninth place at the finish. Having already been round the jump-off course, Lynch was able to go that bit faster with Vistogrand, stopping the clock in 26.87 seconds to take the win in the €56,400 competition.

Second place went to Swiss rider Dominik Fuhrer on Ghost (27.40), who, much to the delight of his home crowd, had held the lead for some time prior to Lynch and Vistogrand’s jump-off round. The third place on the podium went to Santiago Lambre (BRA) in a time of 27.96.

Winning ways

The Longines League of Nations show commenced at St Gallen last Wednesday, with international classes getting underway on Thursday. Louth’s Mark McAuley didn’t waste any time and won the 1.45m two-phase class with the nine-year-old gelding, Fury Nocturne.

From a start list of 51, 25 jumped a clear first round, with 12 of those keeping all the fences up second time out. McAuley set an unbeatable time of 32.42 seconds, more than a second ahead of runner-up, Abdulrahman Alrajhi (KSA) on Babalou (33.49), with Swiss rider Adrian Schmid on Crisu 19 in third (33.52).

Lynch finished fourth in the 1.50m jump-off class on board Vistogrand, when the pair clocked the fastest jump-off time of 45.60 seconds, but incurred an unfortunate four faults. There were only two double clears in the class of 42, with the win going to Koen Vereecke (BEL) on Oilily De Muze (46.85), followed by Romain Duguet (SUI) on Hunger Games Du Champ De Bois in third (47.22).

All Friday’s scheduled competitions were cancelled due to heavy rain, as were those on Saturday morning.

The sole competition to be held on Sunday at the venue was the €308,600 1.60m Defender Grand Prix of Switzerland, which saw 22 starters. As it turned out, no jump-off was required, as there was only one clear first round and that came from Martin Fuchs (SUI) on Commissar Pezi, who won the class and took home the first prize of €101,838. Lynch and Vistogrand finished in sixth place, having incurred four faults, but added another €13,887 to the kitty after a successful week.