The latest Longines Rankings issued by the FEI show Irish riders making significant moves upwards, but Bertram Allen’s reign in the top ten is over for now, writes Mike Dunne.

It is the first time since March 2015 that Allen, who has just turned 21, has not figured in the top ten, with the newly-issued figures showing him in 13th place. He remains the highest-ranked Irish rider in the standings.

Denis Lynch has moved up from 22nd to 21st and would have cracked the top 20 but for the single time fault he had with All Star in round two of the Nations Cup in Dublin.

Conor Swail slipped slightly to 25th from 23rd but Cian O’Connor’s double-clear in Dublin with Good Luck has helped him move up five places to 44th.

Billy Twomey comes storming into the top 50, a move of nineteen places taking him up to 46th.

Darragh Kenny also had a significant climb from 69th to 52nd, while Shane Sweetnam moves up to 54th, a jump of nine places.

The only other Irish rider inside the top 100 is Richie Moloney, who has edged up to 69th from 72nd.

However, knocking on the door in a big way is Anthony Condon, who climbs from 161st to 103rd having had double-clear rounds with Aristio in five-star Nations Cups at both Falsterbo and Hickstead in July.

Shane Breen’s performances at Dublin and Hickstead helped earn him a move from 189th to 118th, while Daniel  Coyle’s wins at Spruce Meadows in Canada have elevated him from 274th to a share of 198th.

Ireland’s Olympic representative Greg Broderick remains well down the list due to being out of action for several months, but the Rio-bound rider has moved upwards to 214th from 221st.

The rankings cover the 12-month period up to July 31st, and show Germany’s Christian Ahlmann taking over top spot from French rider Simon Delestre.

Germany’s Marcus Ehning is one of two ‘new’ entrants into the top 10,  moving up three places to 9th, the other being Canada’s Olympic Gold-Medalist Eric Lamaze who takes the number 10 spot from 16th last month.

Other significant moves at the upper end of the standings were made by French rider Roger-Yves Bost, who has climbed from 23rd to 15th and USA’s Laura Kraut who is up to 24th from 30th.

Full rankings:
https://data.fei.org/Ranking/Search.aspx?rankingCode=S_WR