Ireland’s Bertram Allen has finished fifth in the jump-off feature class at the Longines Global Champions Tour show in Cannes, riding Quiet Easy 4.
The 19-year-old Wexford rider, currently ranked fifth in the world, was one of seven through to the final round, but some formidable performances from the French and British left him in fifth place overall.
France’s Penelope Leprevost and Nice Stephanie set an early blistering time of 33.83 seconds, but though Allen came home in 34.12, he was behind Germany’s Christian Ahlmann aboard Reavnir, who stopped the clock at exactly the same point as Leprevost, to share third place, and Britain’s world number one rider Scott Brash on Hello Annie, who claimed the lead on 33.77 seconds.
However, fellow-countryman Ben Maher with Aristo Z then shaved just over a second off Brash’s time, to take the €20,300 in 32.76 seconds.
The Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix takes place in Cannes on Saturday night, with €300,000 in prize money at stake.
In Canada, Conor Swail finally broke through with a win at the five-star show in Spruce Meadows on Friday.
Swail has come agonisingly close to taking the top rosette on half a dozen occasions since the beginning of the month, racking up second and third places, but made sure of victory with a stirring performance in the opening jump-off class aboard the ten-year-old mare Viva Colombia.
The pair won a FEI World Ranking competition in Palgrave, Ontario, this spring and also finished third in last week’s Encana Cup at Spruce Meadows.
