Kenny and McAuley secure Irish one-two in Florida

Irish riders dominated Sunday's $216,000 four-star Grand Prix at Wellington International in Florida with Offaly’s Darragh Kenny collecting the winner’s prize ahead of Louth’s Mark McAuley in second.

Nine of the 43 starters made it into the jump-off where Kenny partnered Volnay Du Boisdeville to the fastest clear (39.43) to take the winner’s prize of over $71,000. His Irish teammate Mark McAuley was his closest challenger, finishing just 00.09 of a second slower with Jasco VD Bisschop to take runner-up spot and $43,200.

The Grand Prix in Wellington came less than 24 hours after Limerick’s Paul O’Shea took victory in the $140,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1m50 Series Final in Wellington, while the overall series victory went to Cork’s Shane Sweetnam.

Back in Europe, Jeremy Sweetnam finished as runner-up in the two-star Grand Prix at Riesenbeck in Germany riding Brown Star Z.

There was also an Irish runner-up in the two-star Grand Prix at Bonheiden in Belgium for Harry Allen with Dancing Queen Z, while Hannah O’Shea finished fourth in the two-star Grand Prix at Arezzo in Italy with The Irish Sport Horse Ardnacashel Coovella.