EQUESTRIAN:Billy Twomey was virtually unstoppable at the French fixture in Maubeuge at the weekend, picking up two wins and finishing second in both the young-horse championships.
The Corkman, who celebrated his 30th birthday last weekend, added Friday night's late-finishing jump-off to his earlier speed class win on Whinny Jackson. Wertherroschen's victory in the feature two-rounder came at the expense of the Irish Army duo, Comdt Gerry Flynn and Mo Chroi, who were 1.32 seconds adrift.
Twomey switched to Ellade for Saturday morning's six-year-old class and third place put them through to yesterday's final, where just over a quarter of a second dropped them to second place behind Germany's Ralf Runge.
There was a slightly bigger gap between Twomey and the winner of the second young-horse competition, but the result was effectively the same: Germany first in the shape of Marc Bettinger, with the Irishman second, this time with Je T'Aime Flamenco.
Captain Shane Carey made it three in a row for the Irish when claiming Saturday afternoon's speed grand prix. The Army rider had the perfect horse power in Cashla Bay to clock 68.77 seconds. Carey then rode River Foyle to fourth in last night's main grand prix
Lucy Buchanan was another green coach who finished out in front, winning at the Belgian fixture in Lummen on Saturday. Buchanan and Cavalier Andy claimed top spot by just .14 of a second from Britain's Joel Parkinson.
Conor Swail guided Nepomuk to second place in yesterday's two-phase speed class in Modena, Italy.
At home, Cian O'Connor yesterday claimed the opening round of the Premier Grand Prix league at Louth County Show, where Robert Splaine won Saturday's feature class.
