With the Olympic Stadium packed to the rafters, the Irish rider defeated Daniel Deusser on Jasmien vd Bisschop to take the win by just 0.04 seconds. Local hero Peder Fredricson finished the podium off to take bronze on Catch Me Not S.

“A thrilling jump-off”

Wexford rider Bertram Allen told GCTV after his winning round:

“All the riders have been talking about it all week, how the atmosphere here is literally one of the best shows all year for that. I was very motivated for today and I wanted to make the most of it.”

“It was definitely a thrilling jump-off, it was fast and with Daniel and Peder both having good rounds I knew I had to take a lot of risks. My horse jumped fantastic today so it was nice to come out on top.”

There was disappointment for many of the top riders as poles fell all around the course, especially for Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann who has been placed first or second in every other CSI5* class this weekend but a fast four faults still put him in the top ten with Glamour Girl.

Nine combinations qualified for the jump-off

It was a fast and furious 9 rider jump-off with Petronella Andersson and Cassina Z the first combination to return to the ring. Unfortunately, the pressure got to them and two down kept them out of contention for the win.

Jérôme Guery was the first to go clear with his relatively new ride Azaria Dinero. They threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field stopping the clock in 36.38 seconds although he didn’t take out a stride in the first line so left room for improvement.

Germany’s Marcus Ehning and Priam du Roset opted to go very tight in the roll back that proved a little too much as he had to pull out, adding four faults to his score.

American Georgina Bloomberg with Tulara Colmine put in a top effort with a smooth and effortless double clear just off the time to beat but good enough for a top 5 finish.

Both Marlon Modolo Zanotelli on Luigi d’Eclipse and Michael G Duffy with Clitschko had a rail down and were forced to settle for a placing outside the top 5.

Daniel Deusser and Jasmien vd Bisschop made an amazing rollback to the penultimate fence, risking it all the pair had full trust in each other and managed to pull it off stopping the timers at 35.96 seconds, a time that for a while looked unbeatable.

Winner of this class in 2019 Peder Fredricson wanted to make it a home win on the final day of action onboard Catch Me Not S. They gave it everything fully determined but couldn’t quite match the pace of the speedy German falling just behind him in 36.38 seconds.

Bertram Allen and the huge-striding Pacino Amiro then powered around the course and were exactly level with Daniel at the halfway stage. They sprinted down the final line and took an angle to the last, shaving milliseconds off the time to take the win in 35.92 seconds

The Longines Global Champions Tour head to Paris for round 9 of the Championship from 24 – 26 June.

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Seventeen teams competed at the Spanish venue with the Irish side managed by Michael Blake.

Ireland started brilliantly and shared the lead at the halfway stage. Three clear rounds from Mark McAuley with Jasco VD Bisschop, Michael G Duffy with Lapuccino 2 (ISH) and Cameron Hanley with his own ESI Toulouse (ISH) meant Denis Lynch didn’t need to jump in the first round with Cristello.

The top eight teams at the end of round one advanced to round two.

Ireland and Egypt started the second round on zero faults, with Denmark on 2 faults, and Germany and Sweden on four faults. Morocco, Portugal and Brazil also make it through to the second round on five faults.

Britain, The Netherlands, France, Italy and the home team from Spain all missed out on the second round of the competition.

Ireland’s lead slips in round two

In round two, Mark McAuley completed an excellent double clear and it looked at that stage that Ireland could be set for victory.

Four fault rounds from both Michael G Duffy and Cameron Hanley, along with three clear rounds from the Germany team, put the pressure on Ireland’s anchor rider Denis Lynch.

The Tipperary native needed to jump clear to force a jump-off and he left all the fences standing with Cristello, however a foot in the water ended Ireland’s hopes of a win.

It was a second victory in the space of a week for the Germans after they had also won at Vilamoura in Portugal.

They finished on a score of four faults while Denmark finished as runners-up on six faults and Ireland third on eight faults.

Ireland team manager Michael Blake said of today’s competition:

“We again tried out a couple of new horses and a completely different team to the one from last week in Portugal. It was disappointing that our lead ebbed away in the second round.”

Blake continued:

“We again finished on the podium and that means we have finished on the podium five times from the six Nations Cups during a year in which we had huge disruption to the Nations Cup calendar.”

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The Michael Blake-managed team of Shane Breen, Eoin McMahon, Jason Foley and Michael G Duffy finished on a two-round total of just four fault to take the competition ahead of Denmark, Britain and Germany in second, third and fourth places respectively.

The victorious Irish team, which delivered three clears in the second round, included three riders under the age of 25 as well as two Irish Sport Horses. It really was thrilling and like a great hand of blackjack on Gclub.

Ireland was drawn first to go in the five-team competition in the eastern Norwegian venue where a Shane Carey-managed Ireland side had also won the 2019 Nations Cup.

Shane Breen, who won Friday’s featured class at the venue, was pathfinder for Michael Blake’s men as the experienced Hickstead-based rider and Z7 Ipswich went clear. In the second round the Tipperary rider had one down, a score which ultimately was the discard score in the final round.

Clare’s Eoin McMahon and Chacon 2 completed their first round with just four faults and were then clear in the second.

Jason Foley and the Martin Egan-owned Castlefield Vegas were perfectly clear in both rounds as the 2018 European Under-18 (Junior) Show Jumping Champion put pressure on the other competing teams.

Michael G Duffy and Lapuccino 2, the anchor combination for Ireland, had four faults in round one, before producing a clear in the second.

Speaking afterwards, Irish manager Michael Blake was delighted with how his team performed, stating:

“Shane got us off to a great start and then Eoin’s horse went a bit green in front of the double for some reason and he looked at it a little again in the second round but Eoin did a great job with him. Jason was superb, his first Nations Cup and only 19 years of age, he was incredible. Michael was really unlucky in the first round and got a deserved clear when last to go. The team really pulled together in the second round with three clear rounds in-a-row.”

The victorious team manager continued:

“This was our sixth win this week at this show. All of the riders who came here including Harry Allen and Jack Ryan who won the Derby did a fantastic job and we have won the Grand Prix and the Nations Cup three times here in the last four years. Some of the lads bypassed other competitions here to target the Nations Cup and they deserve enormous credit. We didn’t come to take part, we came to take over and that is what we did.”

Ireland finished in the runner-up spot in the Czech Nations Cup in Prague last weekend with an entirely different team.

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