Bertram Allen continued his winning streak at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida last weekend by claiming the $401,000 Lugano Diamonds five-star Grand Prix on Saturday evening.

This time, Allen was on board the Irish sport horse Pacino Amiro who is owned by Aiden McGrory and was bred by Co Donegal’s Simon Scott. This win adds to a string of wins for Irish riders at the stateside venue over the past few weeks.

Five combinations from the 40 starters made it through to the jump-off, with three of those five being Irish.

Speaking after the win, Allen said: “I know my guy is fast, and with only five in it, the worst case I was fifth. I was going to give it a good shot, and thankfully it came off.”

Daniel Coyle and the 11-year-old mare Ariel Grange’s Legacy finished in second place, with Coyle commenting: “Anything Bertram does in the jump-off is usually hard to follow or catch.

“I knew before I went in that was going to be a challenge so I just stuck to my own plan and if it was good enough, great, and if not, there will be lots more.”

Co Down’s Lorcan Gallagher and VDL Cartello had one fence down to finish in fifth place.

Duffy’s special horse

Meanwhile in Europe, Mayo’s Michael Duffy and the Irish sport horse Lapuccino 2, who was bred by Co Galway’s Sven Kapp and is owned by Carl Hanley Sport Horses, landed a stunning win in Sunday’s four-star Grand Prix at Vejer De la Frontera in Spain.

Speaking afterwards, Duffy said: “Today’s course was very tough, with high-level riders and only six horses that finished without faults. I didn’t do anything crazy [in the jump-off].

“I stayed fast all the way and on the last line I pushed even more, I think that was where I saved time.

“Lapuccino has been with me for five or six years and with each passing year he makes things better. He has taken me all over the world and I adore him.

“Today he gave everything for me and winning this Grand Prix is very special.”