Bertram Allen & Hector van d’Abdijhoeve. Ph. via Longines CSIO St. Gallen
After a weekend of landmark finishes by Italian riders at Longines St. Gallen CSIO5* in Switzerland, it was Ireland that truly shone in the biggest competition of the weekend on Sunday afternoon.
Young Irish star Bertram Allen added a major title to his record in winning the 202,000 Longines Grand Prix of Switzerland aboard the flashy 10-year-old grey BWP stallion Hector van d’Abdijhoeve (Cabrio van de Heffinck x Utrillo van de Heffinck).
And right behind Allen in 2nd place was Ireland’s Richard Howley, who secured the biggest finish of his career thus far with the 10-year-old KWPN gelding Chinook (Tygo x Wellington).
The home crowd did get to see one of their own on the podium when Paul Estermann and Lord Pepsi laid down a solid round to place 3rd. But Estermann’s best of 46.15 seconds was quite a ways off from Allen’s winning time of 44.75 seconds, with Howley fitting in between on 45.64 seconds.
For this level, the jumpoff field was big enough at 13 riders, but then again, the start list stretched to 50 pairs. And Swiss hopes were high, with six home riders moving forward to the shortened course, but when Allen is on, he is pretty much unbeatable, as he went on to prove.
See the complete results list at this link.