IRISH riders made the journey to the three-star show in Twente worth their while over the weekend, bringing home their share of the ribbons. Twente is a prestigious international horse show in the village of Geesteren, eastern The Netherlands, which attracts top riders from all over the world.

Offaly’s Darragh Kenny travelled further than most, crossing the Atlantic in order to get to the show, but he certainly had a worthwhile trip, with wins in one-star and three-star classes.

Friday brought a win for Kenny and Glamour Du Chanu in the one-star 1.30m class, where they finished best of the 57 starters. An impressive 25 of those jumped clear, but there was quite a spread between the fastest and the slowest of them. Kenny and the eight-year-old gelding finished their round with a clean sheet in a time of 66.34 seconds, 0.41 seconds ahead of Belgian runner-up, Mike Van Olst on Miracle Odth Z (66.75).

Kenny’s success continued when he also won Saturday’s three-star 1.50m speed class with the 13-year-old stallion Chic Chic. There were 72 starters in the class, with only 14 keeping the fences intact. Speed really was the name of the game, with Kenny riding a super-quick round in 65.99 seconds – almost four seconds faster than the next swiftest contender, Germany’s Hans Thorben Rüder on Singu (69.75). Denis Lynch placed fourth in the class with Mr Boombastic, jumping clear in the slightly slower time of 71.67.

Grand Prix

Lynch and the 10-year-old bay gelding, Mr Boombastic, owned by his wife Julia Lynch, were back in the ribbons again on Sunday, this time taking third place in the CSI3* 1.55m Grand Prix.

From a start list of 59, 15 jumped clear to secure their place in the jump-off. Of those, only five managed to jump clear for a second time.

Lynch and his mount jumped double clear, stopping the jump-off clock in 39.54 seconds, but they were outpaced on this occasion by Swiss winner Steve Guerdat riding Looping Luna, who rode a blistering jump-off round in 36.65 seconds and runner-up Dutch rider, Marriet Smit-Hoekstra on Duco Z, who finished in 37.75.

Show jumping at CSI Twente commenced last Thursday, June 27th, and saw a win for Ireland’s Conan Wright and Lafayette in the CSI1* 1.30m class, ahead of Conor Drain on Millstreet Van De Kruishorst in ninth. The CSI3* 1.45m class saw Kiefer Dawson Stanley ride Jumping Jack Van De Kalevallei into ninth place.