The Miami Glory team of Ireland's Denis Lynch and Britain's Scott Brash, the leaders following Thursday's first round, won Saturday's second leg of the Global Champions League at Hamburg and topped the final rankings with the only zero score.
Having gone clear on Thursday with Hello Forever, Brash rode Ursula XII in round two and again came home without fault as did eight others in the first tranche of riders. Lynch entered the arena as last to jump with Rushy Marsh Farm’s 13-year-old stallion RMF Echo and he too went clear leaving Miami Glory as the only team with a clean score-card over the two rounds.
Following leg five of 15, Hamburg Diamonds now top the Global Champions League table on 98 points ahead of Bertram Allen’s reigning champions Valkenswaard United (93) while Miami Glory are in sixth place overall (78.5).
The jumping stallion Casall Ask made his final competitive appearance a winning one when landing Saturday’s Global Champions’ Tour Grand Prix of Hamburg under longterm rider Swedish rider, Rolf-Göran Bengtsson. The decision had been made to retire the 18-year-old Holsteiner bay at the German show and Casall Ask bowed out with €99,000 added to his already considerable career earnings.
Irish riders were in good form at Rome's five-star show in Italy on Saturday. The feature jump-off class saw Cork's Shane Sweetnam finish third with Main Road while Tipperary's Thomas Ryan grabbed fourth place aboard Quite Zero in a competition won by French rider Mathieu Billot.
At home, Ballypatrick Stables’ team rider Darragh Ryan won Saturday’s Showjumping Ireland national Grand Prix at Ballinasloe on board Paul Carr’s 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Zuidam. From a field of 33, 18 combinations progressed to the jump-off round where Ryan posted the fastest of nine double clears.
