EQUESTRIAN: The run of Irish equestrian successes, which started with a show jumping double in Stockholm on Friday, continued in the Munich dressage arena yesterday when Anna Merveldt-Steffens swept to victory in the Grand Prix Speciale.
The Kildare-born but German-based rider, who was part of the Irish team at the World Equestrian Games in September, had finished fourth in Saturday's Grand Prix, but she pulled out all the stops yesterday to claim top slot in the Dressage Grand Prix Speciale with her Jerez ride Fosbury on a score of 67.32 per cent.
Ulla Salzgeber, who was part of the German gold medal team at the world games and individual bronze medallist with Rusty, rode the less experienced Wall Street to claim Saturday's Grand Prix honours and also won yesterday afternoon's freestyle to music.
The show jumpers continued their onslaught on the Stockholm prize fund but neither world champion Dermott Lennon nor compatriot Cameron Hanley, who both scored on Friday, could return to the winner's enclosure.
Hanley came closest when slotting Lady Pachat into second place in Saturday's two-phase, just ahead of Billy Twomey with Saffier.
The class was won by Sweden's Royne Zetterman with the Irish export Richmond Park.
Honours in the Mitsubishi Motors Grand Prix also eluded the Irish trio, with Hanley best placed in fifth after faulting in the first round with Jerome.
Lennon and Ginger Watt, his winner on Friday, were sixth in the line-up with Twomey and Saffier ninth after hitting two fences apiece.
The home-side dominated, with Peter Eriksson scooping the winner's purse with the fastest of just two double clears on VDL Cardento.
Meanwhile,Jessica Kurten, who was forced to miss the World Equestrian games after her top horse Paavo N was savaged by a neighbouring horse on the return flight from the big Canadian fixture in Calgary, saw action in Munich this weekend.
She finished eighth in the Grand Prix with the veteran Rheinlander gelding behind Germany's Marcus Ehning with the stallion For Pleasure.
RESULTS
DRESSAGE GRAND PRIX SPECIALE (Munich) - 1 Ireland's Fosbury (Anna Merveldt-Steffens), 67.32%; 2 Austria's Hermes (Andrea John), 66.84%; 3 Ukraine's Bosporous S (Olga Klimko), 65.56%.
Grand Prix - 1 Germany's Wall Street (Ulla Salzgeber), 71.36%; 2 Germany's Bonaparte (Heike Klemmer), 69.28%; 3 Germany's Walsula Suerte (Hu bertus Schimdt), 67.84%; 4 Ireland's Fosbury (Anna Merveldt-Steffens), 66.64%.
Show jumping, Grand Prix (Munich) - 1 Germany's For Pleasure (Marcus Ehning); 2 Germany's Coster (Christian Ahlmann); 3 Bulgaria's Hildon Fleche Rouge (Samantha McIntosh); Irish placing - 8 Paavo N (Jessica Kurten).
Two-phase (Stockholm) - 1 Sweden's Richmond Park (Royne Zetterman); 2 Ireland's Lady Pachat (Cameron Hanley); 3 Ireland's Saffier (Billy Twomey).
Mitsubishi Motors Grand Prix - 1 Sweden's VDL Cardento (Peter Eriksson); 2 Sweden's Classic H (Helena Petersson); 3 Sweden's Carlot 3 (Maria Sundberg); Irish placings - =5 Jerome (Cameron Hanley); Ginger Watt (Dermott Lennon); 9 Saffier (Billy Twomey).
