Kürten lands rich French reward

Show Jumping: Jessica Kürten wound up an impressive weekend for Ireland's show jumpers by winning one of the Europe's richest Grand Prix classes at the French fixture in La Baule yesterday.

The world number 11, who returned to team duty in Copenhagen on Friday after an absence of almost a full year, was attempting a feat akin to bilocation by accepting an invitation to compete at the money-rich show in La Baule over the same weekend as the Danish Nations Cup.

Her outing in the latter on Friday afternoon ended in elimination with the stallion Jipey Dark, but Castle Forbes Maike proved the right choice of horsepower for yesterday's French feature.

Kürten and Lady Georgina Forbes' 13-year-old mare were forced to sit it out and wait for unseasonably high winds to drop, but they flew round with a similar velocity once they got back in the arena to clock an unbeatable time of 41.72 seconds and snatch the 22,000 prizepot away from British ace Michael Whitaker by just over a 10th of a second.

Kürten, winner of the world's richest Grand Prix in Dubai in January 2006, had also been in galloping form in yesterday's earlier speed class when she steered Galopin du Biolay into fifth place behind Swiss winner Markus Fuchs.

Cameron Hanley opted to stay on in Copenhagen after Friday's Nations Cup, in which the Irish team failed to make the cut for the second round, and the Mayo rider came close to making it an Irish Grand Prix double, pipped at the post by Belgian winner Pieter Devos.

Hanley, who turned 34 last week, was just over half a second off the pace with the eight-year-old grey SIEC Livello to fill the runner-up slot.

And young Michael Duffy emulated Hanley when finishing second in the junior Grand Prix at Le Mans in France.

Duffy, who claimed one of Saturday's classes with Annagowran Arrow, was further adrift on the clock with Dusty Clover, more than three and a half seconds slower than French winner Melvin Petrocchi.

There was no joy yesterday for the Irish at the Austrian show in Linz, however.

The Ireland team had stormed to victory in Friday's Nations Cup and the pair that had played such a major part in that success, Commandant Gerry Flynn and Conor Swail, were back out trying to add the Grand Prix to their tally.

Neither rider could reproduce their Friday form, however, with Flynn and Mo Chroi finishing best of the Irish in ninth, three places above Swail and Nepomuk.

LA BAULE, FRANCE, LONGINES GRAND PRIX - 1, Ireland's Castle Forbes Maike (Jessica Kürten), 0/0 faults, 41.72 seconds; 2, Britain's Insultech Mozart des Hayet (Michael Whitaker), 0/0, 41.81; 3, Germany's Cash 63 (Marco Kutscher), 0/0, 42.18.