IRISH man Conan Wright made a good start at the two-star show at Groningen in The Netherlands kicked off last Thursday when he rode Litmanen into second place in the two-star Small Tour 1.30m class. From 62 starters, 28 jumped clear rounds, with time being the deciding factor. Wright rode a fast clear round in 55.77 seconds, but wasn’t quite quick enough to beat Jur Vrieling (NED) on Mcallister VDL, who finished more than a second faster in 54.15.

Wright and Litmanen finished in runner-up position again on Friday in the two-star Small Tour 1.30m Two-phase Special class. From a start list of 58, 30 combinations managed to jump double clear, but the time of the second-phase was all-important. Wright sped round the course in 27.56, but was narrowly beaten by another Dutch rider, Marriet Smit-Hoekstra on Nijerite, who finished in 27.46. It was a close finish, with the top three within 0.2 seconds of each other, the third place on the podium going to Michiel Brusse on Jericho-S (27.64).