DENIS Lynch continued his dream run of form with yet another top five-star result last week, finishing runner-up on the brilliant Cordial in a 1.60m class at the second leg of the Longines Global Champions League competition in Madrid.

The Tipperary man registered a five-star success in Hamburg the week before on Cornets Iberio and scored a double at the Longines Global Champions League event in Mexico City a month ago.

He bagged the first of those on Cordial and teamed up with the 15-year-old for another top tier performance in the rigorous €105,000 1.60m speed class at Madrid last Friday. The pair went clear in a time of 75.93 seconds and only Max Kühner on the Mark Sherry-bred EIC Up Too Jacco Blue (ISH) were able to trump that.

EIC Up Too Jacco Blue is a 2011 gelding by Chacco Blue (MECKL) out of Celestial Up Too (ISH), by ARD VDL Douglas (KWPN) owned by Hans Christian Jacobsen.

Team standings

In the LGCT team competition at the Madrid event, Lynch and his New York Empire teammates ended up in fifth place and are currently standing in sixth overall after five legs of the series.

Ahead of them in the league are the Cannes Stars in first on 87 points, the Stockholm Hearts in second on 86, Valkenswaard United in third on 84 and the Prague Lions share fourth on 83 with the Doha Falcons.

Taking their first win last weekend since the GCL of Hamburg in 2022, Valkenswaard United clinched team victory in Madrid, ahead of the home team, Madrid in Motion.

With none other than 68-year-old John Whitaker at the helm, young gun Gilles Thomas was riding alongside the legend to bring home the win for the team, and leading from start to finish, ultimately left the arena with just seven faults on the scoresheet.

Individual glory

Winning an individual ticket to the Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix while at Madrid was Christian Kukuk on board Checker 47. He pipped Maikel van der Vleuten and Beauville Z N.O.P. by less than a second in what was an electric round.

Fresh from his LGCT Grand Prix win in Shanghai two weeks ago, Gilles Thomas secured yet another podium, this time with Ermitage Kalone in the stallion’s first-ever CSI5* Grand Prix to take third place.

In the most dramatic jump-off this season, Spain’s dreams of a home win were crushed when last to go Eduardo Alvarez Aznar and 19-year-old Rokfeller de Pleville Bois Margot, who has jumped clear in every LGCT Grand Prix this season, had a refusal. However, their seventh place finish means Aznar retained his LGCT Championship lead.

Smiling from ear to ear Christian Kukuk said: “Honestly, I am a really big fan of this show. To win in front of this incredible crowd here, the atmosphere is outstanding here.

“I came here with a good feeling, it is an unbelievable show with a beautiful arena, it truly is a pleasure to ride here. I knew the jump-off was going to be fast, so I tried everything. I took all the risk to the last, I said to myself just go full speed and I kept galloping home.”

Picking up maximum points in Madrid, Kukuk jumps up to third on 96 points, but Gilles Thomas is closing in with 95 points.

The tour now heads to the heart of the French Riviera, to the shores of Pampelonne Beach, St Tropez, from May 30th to June 1st with many of the standings top 10 set to vie for crucial points.