Brian Hennessey reports
JUMPING In The City, sponsored
by The Underwriting Exchange
Limited, moved to Cork’s greyhound
stadium on Friday night for
the second leg of the new summer
show jumping series and Co Waterford
riders fi lled three of the top six
places in the feature Grand Prix.
Colligan’s Peter Moloney fi nished
best of the Waterford trio in
fourth place with the Pat Duggan
owned Ribanbelle Tame, just one
place off the podium.
Fenor’s army rider Capt. Geoff
Curran was close behind in fi fth
with Shannondale Rahona, while
Francis Connors finished sixth with
the Bobby Flynn owned Hyperion
- in a repeat of their result in the
opening Jumping In The City round
at Limerick.
The grand prix start list in Cork
attracted some of Ireland’s top
international riders including
Olympic medallist Cian O’Connor,
fellow Olympian and Cork native
Billy Twomey, former World Champion
Dermott Lennon and Tipperary’s
rising Nations’ Cup star Greg
Broderick.
The Underwriting Exchange
Grand Prix was won by Co Kildare’s
Alexander Butler riding the
Ladycastle Syndicate-owned Vimminka,
while local boy Twomey
was just over a second behind in the
jump off to take the runner-up spot
on Sue Davies’s Tinka’s Serenade.
Kildare’s Nicola FitzGibbon placed
third with Poker Des Dames, which
is owned by Lady Georgina Forbes.
Drama unfolded in the Devenish
Puissance in Cork, with two riders
tying for fi rst place when the big
red wall went up to 2m15 in height.
The two to clear the final height and
share the winner’s prize were Tipperary’s
Liam O’Meara with Cisero
and Wexford’s Jason Higgins riding
Hadine Van’t Zorgvliet.
With the full list of selected riders
for the Jumping In The City Final at
Shelbourne Park set to be confirmed
later this week, it looks likely that
Peter Moloney, Geoff Curran and
Francis Connors will all make the
cut to fly the flag for Co Waterford.
Meanwhile it is rumoured that
Wexford super-star Bertram Allen
is set to travel from his base in
Germany to also line-out at the
Jumping In The City fi nal in
Shelbourne Park on Friday 26 June.
The 19-year-old from Enniscorthy,
who is a former pupil of Newtown
school in Waterford, has moved up
to fifth place in the Show Jumping
World rankings following a string
of incredible performances including
a third place fi nish in the world
cup final in Las Vegas.
Tickets for the Jumping In The
City final at Shelbourne Park Dublin
are available online from www.
horsesportireland.ie or by phoning
1890 269 969 and tickets will also
be available at the gate, costing €15
for adults, children under 14 are
free and a Student and OAP rate of
€10 will apply.