Sweetnam earns impressive second at Miami Beach

Irish riders were in excellent form in Saturday's five-star Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of Miami Beach in Florida, with Cork’s Shane Sweetnam finishing second with Alejandro, while Offaly’s Darragh Kenny took fifth with Volnay du Boisdeville.

Just six of the 34 starters managed to jump clear in the opening round, with Galway’s Michael Duffy among the fastest four faulters with Zilton Sl Z.

Duffy would finish ninth overall and the points gained have moved him up to second place on the Global Champions Tour leaderboard.

Sweetnam took the lead when second to go in the jump-off with a clear in 35.73 seconds with Spy Coast Farm’s 13-year-old gelding Alejandro.

Kenny had the second fastest time of the day but a late falling pole with Volnay du Boisdeville would see them slip back to fifth.

Last to go in the jump-off, Germany’s Katrin Eckermann stopped the clock just over a second faster than Sweetnam to earn victory on the nine-year-old mare Cala Mandia, while young Belgian talent Gilles Thomas secured his first ever LGCT podium finish with Luna van het Dennehof to take third place.

In the earlier 1m 55 speed class in Miami, Derry’s Jordan Coyle and Ariso scored a third place finish while Tipperary’s Denis Lynch was sixth with Brooklyn Heights.

The next leg of the Global Champions Tour takes place in Mexico City from 28 April to 1 May.