Equestrian: Pemble and O'Connor finish up in fine fashion
Superb cross-country riding saw Irish Olympians Austin O'Connor and Sacha Pemble rocket up the leaderboard to secure top-10 finishing places at the super-tough CCI 4-Star, at Luhmuehlen, in Germany yesterday.
O'Connor and the aptly-named Pocket Rocket slotted into ninth, and Pemble took 10th, with her former Punchestown winner I've Been Dun, while the only other Irish finishers, Capt Geoff Curran and The Jump Jet, finished in 16th place.
From a starting field of 37, just 17 survived to go into the final show jumping phase as the formidable course, designed by Capt Mark Philips, decimated the field.
Ireland's George Russell and Young man were amongst 16 eliminations when falling at a corner fence. Four horses were also retired, including Jackson D'Allez ridden by Badminton winner Ollie Townend.
Townend was much-fancied to do the double, but had to settle for 15th and 17th places with his other two rides, as Germany's Michael Jung won through with La Biothetique.
O'Connor was lying 25th after dressage and Pemble was even further behind in 34th, but the Cork-born Irishman shot up to eighth when picking up just 7.60 time penalties over the fixed fences and British-born Pemble shot up an amazing 24 places to 10th when adding just 12.8 time penalties to her score.
"This was the strongest track I've walked in 10 years, the fences were maximum dimensions everywhere and it was technically very difficult, but the Pocket Rocket was brilliant, he's only a little fella but he flew it," said O'Connor, whose own trademark is his courageous riding over the solid timber.
Curran's chances were scuppered by a cross-country refusal and 20 more faults in the show jumping ring yesterday, but, despite two show jumping fences down and a single time fault, O'Connor slipped just one place to ninth, while a single error made no difference to Pemble's finishing position.
Meanwhile, at the CIC 3-Star, in Bramham, Yorkshire there was another impressive Irish result when Declan Cullen finished fifth with Glenhill Gold, Joseph Murphy and Sportsfield Othello slotted into eighth and Louise Lyons took 10th and 13th spots with Murphy's Miracle and Watership Down.
In show jumping, Denis Lynch picked up €22,000 when fourth with Lantinus in Saturday night's Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Cannes where Frenchman Roger-Yves Bost came out on top.
Cian O'Connor steered Splendor into fifth in the Two-Phase class and Cameron Hanley clinched third with SIEC Quite Ruffy in the seven-year-old competition at the 3-Star show in Balve, Germany yesterday.
Also, former army star Gerry Flynn, who is now based in Turkey, guided SIEC Janico into fourth in the 2-Star Grand Prix at Albena in Bulgaria.
- Louise Parkes
