Billy Twomey flew the Irish flag in style yesterday, steering Whinney Jackson to victory in the Lier Grand Prix in Belgium. The Corkman took on a huge field of 68 starters, with 14 winning through to the timed round, but none of them could touch Twomey's scorching target of 37.92 seconds to leave the Irish duo out in front.

Earlier, Twomey notched up a sixth place finish with Whinney Jackson and also steered the stallion Luidam to 10th in the Trophy Restaurant de Engel.

Jessica Kurten picked up nine World Cup points for an eighth place finish in the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva yesterday afternoon. Kurten and the mare Quibell were one of 10 combinations through to the timed decider, but a stop at the fourth fence dropped the Irish pair down the line.

And there was no joy for Kurten in Saturday's Gandini World Top Ten when a fence down in both rounds with Castle Forbes Libertina left her in ninth. Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa recorded the only double clear of the class for the win with the stallion Baloubet du Rouet.

Austrian veteran Thomas Fruhmann and The Sixth Sense stole the limelight in the Rolex feature. As the only ones to break the 40-second barrier, they snatched the €23,000 winner's purse and the 20 World Cup points.

Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal missed out on both the cash and the points with a fence down in the first round, but O'Connor picked up a second place in the bareback speed with the talented mare Zanoubia. Trevor Coyle, the third of the Irish trio competing in Geneva, claimed seventh in one of the speed classes with Overtime GMS.

Harry Marshall made it a double of second places for the Irish when filling the runner-up slot in the two-phase at the Portuguese fixture in Portugal, crossing the line a second adrift on the clock with All Shook Up.