Bertram Allen and Dino W. Ph: Satu Pirinen.
On Friday, October 20, 2017, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Dino (Berlin x l’Amour Z) rode to victory in the International Longines Ranking 1.45m competition at the Helsinki International Horse Show CSI5*-W in Finland.
Presented by Fortum Horse Power, the competition against the clock saw 44 horse and rider combinations take to the 12-obstacle-track designed by Brazil’s Guilherme Jorge. Twentieth in the order, Allen was one of 18 who produced faultless jumping rounds. With a speedy time of 54.26s, the Irishman secured the leading position atop the leaderboard.
“I didn’t expect to be this fast so I’m very surprised. This horse isn’t typically fast but I just got a good rhythm and managed to make a great round,” commented Allen.
Allen first rode on the international circuit with Dino in March of 2013, where they competed at the CSI level. This marked their second CSI5* victory to date.
“This is now my sixth year staying and training in Germany and it’s a good place for me at this point,” said Allen. At home I don’t jump my horses that much at all but I try to get them as smooth and in good control as possible.”
Riding into 2nd place, Eric van der Vleuten of The Netherlands and the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Zigali P S (Kigali x Palfrenier) finished on a time of 54.97s.
Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet closed out the podium placings with a 3rd place finish aboard the 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion Eldorado van het Vijverhof (Hunder van de Zuuthoeve x Omar).
The full results can be viewed here.