Last to go Denis Lynch and the stallion Cristello rode to a blistering victory in the Longines Global Champions Tour of Berlin the 1.50m DKB Championship competition at the weekend.
The Tipperary man clinched victory by half a second from Offaly’s Darragh Kenny and Vinci de Beaufour.
Third place in the jump-off went to German rider Katrin Eckermann and Cala Mandia.
A delighted Lynch praised his horse, saying:
“The horse has been in great form recently. To win here is really great and I am delighted with him. It is a great class to win, Cristello is very impulsive, a real fighter and trier so we work well together.”
Ten clear rounds
From the international field of 32 contenders, there were 10 clear rounds that made it into the jump off. First to return to the ring home hero Marcus Ehning and A la Carte NRW. They jumped clear and set a time of 38.46 seconds. Darragh Kenny swifty knocked him off top spot with Vinci de Beaufour to stop the clock in 36.99 seconds.
Young talent Andrzej Oplatek and Conthinder opted for a slightly steadier pace counting on a double clear to help them stay in the placings. While it started to unravel for Pieter Devos after he clipped the Longines oxer and misjudged the side to the final fence causing a refusal and collecting 18 faults, in the end, to rule themselves out of contention.
Though many top-class international riders tried to better Kenny’s performance, all failed until his fellow Irishman took to the arena.
Lynch and Cristello cleared every fence, with the pair shaving milliseconds off the time. They flew towards the last to stop the clock in 36.47 seconds, to take the win, and give Irish riders a 1-2 in Berlin.
The Longines Global Champions Tour and GCL team series now moves to the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London from 13-15 August 2021.
