Allen wins in France

BEFORE making his way to Ireland for the Dublin Horse Show, Bertram Allen won a 1.45m ranking class at the three-star show in St Lô, France, with Edison Du Hus last week. Owned by Ballywalter Stables and Maximillian Lill, the nine-year-old gelding was double clear in 38.54 seconds to earn €6,550. Dermot Lennon finished fifth in the same class with the Irish Sport Horse Millview Cicero (Cicero Z Van Paemel x Oklund), owned by Bronte Stables Ltd and bred by Harry Marshall. Allen was runner-up in Saturday’s 1.45m Table A at the venue with the nine-year-old Carrera Denfer, while Lennon finished fourth in a 1.35m with the Irish-bred Anthem In My Heart who has no breeding recorded.

Sweetnam ranked

seventh in the world

CORK show jumper Shane Sweetnam has moved up to be ranked number seven in the Longines FEI World Rankings, while Co Down’s Conor Swail remains ranked at number 10. Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann continues to dominate the Longines Rankings with an impressive 3575 points, further widening the gap between him and Julien Epaillard (FRA) by 529 points. Harrie Smolders (NED) securely holds the third position with 2964 points, while Swiss rider Martin Fuchs (2918 points) makes a strong comeback to the top five, surpassing McLain Ward (USA), who now stands at fifth place with 2838 points.

Anna Merveldt placed

ITALIAN-based Irish international dressage rider Anna Merveldt and the 13-year-old Lusitano stallion Esporim, owned by Mario Greco and Giovanna Mazza, scored 73.875% for eighth place in the five-star Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) class in Crozet, France, last Sunday. Germany’s Sönke Rothenberger and Matchball OLD won the Freestyle on a 80.765% total.