SHOW JUMPING: A third-place finish in the Equita Masters class at the weekend's five-star show in Lyon netted Ireland's Jessica Kürten €17,000 for her efforts with Castle Forbes Libertina, writes Margie McLoone.
Only five clears were recorded in the first round of Saturday evening's 1.65m event, with Kürten and Lady Georgina Forbes's Westfalian mare being one of six combinations with four faults to their credit following their initial assault on the course.
In round two, the Cullybackey rider recorded a brilliant clear on the 11-year-old bay, but their time of 38.57 was bettered by The Netherlands' Albert Zoer on Oko Doki (38.44) while Belgium's Kristof Clereen slotted into second place by virtue of two clears on Sea Coast Silvana (38.70)
The highlight of yesterday afternoon's action at the Champions of the Year Show in the Kill International Equestrian Centre was Cian O'Connor's win in the Cannon Kirk Homes Puissance on his grey gelding Casper. In the fifth round, the Meath-based rider and his 15-year-old partner were the only one of the three remaining combinations to clear the wall at 2.05m.
Although he failed to finish in the first six in the evening's Grand Prix, Greg Broderick won the Bloxham Stockbrokers autumn league. The Kill winner was Marion Hughes on the Cavalier Royale gelding Heritage Transmission.
TENNIS:The former world number one Lindsay Davenport continued a fairytale comeback by crushing the third-seeded Julia Vakulenko of the Ukraine 6-4 6-1 in the final of the Quebec City Challenge yesterday.
The American wildcard shrugged off the challenge of her 24-year-old opponent to claim her second WTA title in three events since her return to the game after a year in retirement.
Davenport, who gave birth to a son, Jagger, in June, triumphed in Bali in her first tournament back before losing to Jelena Jankovic in the semi-finals of last month's China Open.
The former Wimbledon, US and Australian champion, who clinched her 53rd career title in Quebec, has said she is unlikely to play for the rest of the year.
MOTOR CYCLING: Spain's Dani Pedrosa clinched second place in the MotoGP championship with victory in the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix after his rival Valentino Rossi had to retire because of a technical problem.
It was the first time the Italian five-time world champion Rossi had finished outside the top two in any category since claiming ninth place in his rookie season in the 125cc class in 1996.
Pedrosa, who crossed the line over five seconds ahead of the newly crowned world champion Casey Stoner of Australia, became the first rider to win at Valencia in all three classes with his emphatic victory on home tarmac.
The 22-year-old finished the season just a point ahead of Yamaha's Rossi, who had started the race despite breaking his right hand in three places during a crash in qualifying.
"I'm very happy as it was a very difficult race and I had to push hard all the time," said the Honda rider. "I didn't expect second place after having such a difficult season so it isn't that bad."
Stoner, who won 10 of the 18 races this season on his Ducati, finished top of the final standings with 367 points, Pedrosa was second with 242 and Rossi third on 241.
Suzuki rider John Hopkins crossed the line in third ahead of the Italian duo Marcos Melandri and Loris Capirossi to take fourth position in the championship.
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