Delight for Denis Lynch and Cornets Iberio in Hamburg

Denis Lynch has been on the crest of a wave in recent weeks, in and out of the arena, and he continued his remarkable trend with a five-star triumph on Cornets Iberio in Hamburg on Thursday.

It was a magnificent day for Irish riders at the German event after a good start on Wednesday, with Mikey Pender recording a fourth-place finish in another five-star class, while Alexander Butler claimed the honours in a four-star competition that concluded with Diarmuid Howley standing on the bottom step of the podium.

Just three days after selling his stallion Dark Chocolate at auction for €2.3m to a student of Cian O'Connor's, Lynch reminded us that he has a considerable depth of talent at his disposal by taking the spoils in the 1.50m class against the clock with an inch-perfect piece of navigation on the 12-year-old Cornets Iberio.

The Tipperary man had had to sit and suffer, having set his clear round over 14 jumping efforts in a time of 64.50 seconds when just 11th into the arena.

Hans-Thorben Ruder and Singu were last of the 53-strong field to have a stab at taking the Longines world-ranked number 37 rider down and they gave it a better go than anyone else, but had to settle for the runner-up spot, 0.65 in arrears.