Kings of Lyon

Mark McAuley guided the Eva Lundin-owned 13-year-old gelding Miebello to victory in last Friday’s five-star Longines Grand Prix at Lyon’s World Cup show in France to take the winner’s prize of €25,000.

McAuley was the sole Irish representative, outpacing former World No1, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat, who had to settle for second place with Bianca, while the home crowd saw Penelope Leprevost take third, riding Vagabond de la Pomme.

McAuley and Miebello added to this result with a fifth place finish in Sunday’s Longines FEI World Cup Grand Prix. McAuley has now risen to eighth place on the World Cup league table, one place ahead of Denis Lynch in ninth.

vaulters shine

The national vaulting competition, held in Kells Equestrian Centre on Saturday, was a great success with barrel classes, horse walk classes and for the first time in Ireland, four vaulters move up to a horse canter class.

Summit Equestrian Vaulting and Free Spirit Vaulting brought home six wins and many placings. Ballyrogan Vaulting Club won three classes. Kells Vaulting Club and Festina Lente also had a great day with many placings.

The judges were Alison Rimaud, Charlotte Rimuad and Sam Davidson.

World Cup win for Lynch

Denis Lynch added a Longines FEI World Cup victory to his season’s winnings after a stunning performance on Sunday at Lexington, Kentucky, in the US.

Lynch guided the Rushy Marsh Farm-owned gelding RMF Echo to victory, collecting just over $82,000.

Nine combinations made it through to the jump-off, with Lynch the sole Irish representative after Shane Sweetnam (Chaqui Z) and Richie Moloney (Carrabis Z) exited in the first round.

Lynch set a winning time of 36.16 seconds and was pushed all the way by American Lauren Tisbo with Coriandolo di Ribano (36.52). Switzerland’s Beat Mandli took third spot with Dsarie (37.80).

Irish FEI representatives

Three Irish representatives have been appointed to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI). Gillian Kyle has been appointed FEI eventing steward general, Gerry McCloskey has been appointed FEI jumping steward general, while Dermot Forde has been reappointed as FEI national head veterinarian.