Irish riders Bertram Allen and Cian O'Connor both secured third-place finishes on the opening day of the five-star Global Champions Tour Final meeting at Doha, Qatar on Thursday.
The two Irish riders completed six rounds of jumping between them at the expense of just one pole down in total.
Competing in top-class international fields, Meath rider O'Connor was first to step up when finishing third in the meeting's opening 1m 45 class on board Super Sox, with Allen just behind in fourth partnering Quiet Easy. The event was won by Italy's Emanuele Gaudiano riding Guess.
In the day's feature class it was Wexford rider Allen who made the podium with a double-clear on Molly Malone V, slotting into third place on time.
O'Connor and Good Luck also made the jump-off in this event but one pole down in the decider relegated them to eleventh. The winner was Abdelkebir Ouaddar of Morocco with Quickly de Kreisker.
The biggest event of the weekend at Doha is the Global Champions Tour Final on Saturday (5.0pm Irish time), which carries a payday of €1.45m.
