The presence of Irish riders in the world’s top fifty has remained unchanged in the latest Longines FEI rankings published yesterday, but further down the field there were strong moves by both Daniel Coyle and Kevin Babington.

Last month Ireland had eight riders inside the top 50 and the figure is the same in the latest standings.

Bertram Allen retains his number 18 position and continues to be the highest ranked Irish rider on the list, which is headed for the second consecutive month by Germany’s Daniel Deusser.

Next best of the Irish is Denis Lynch in 30th, a dip of three places from last month. Darragh Kenny moves up one notch to 32nd, while Cian O’Connor is steady in 34th position.

Conor Swail also remains unchanged, holding 36th, and there is an upward move of one place for Shane Sweetnam to 40th.

Billy Twomey slips back three notches to 41st and Richie Moloney drops one to a share of 49th.

Outside the top 50, the highest-ranked Irish rider is Daniel Coyle in 75th which represents an upward move of eight places, following good performances with Cita in the early stages of the current Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.

Anthony Condon, retains his top 100 status, improving from 97th to 96th.

Further down comes Shane Breen in 116th, a drop of two places, with Kevin Babington next in 123rd – a climb of 15 places from last month.

Mike Dunne

Longines FEI World Rankings (to January 31st 2017)
1. Daniel Deusser (GER)
2. Kent Farrington (USA)
3. McLain Ward (USA)
4. Christian Ahlmann (GER)
5. Simon Delestre (FRA)
6. Kevin Staut (FRA)
7. Eric Lamaze (CAN)
8. Marcus Ehning (GER)
9. Scott Brash (GBR)
10. Penelope Leprovost (FRA)

Irish riders inside top 200
(last month’s position in brackets)
18. Bertram Allen (18)
30 Denis Lynch (27)
32. Darragh Kenny (33)
34. Cian O’Connor (34)
36. Conor Swail (36)
41. Billy Twomey (38)
40. Shane Sweetnam (41)
=49. Richie Moloney (48)
75. Daniel Coyle (83)
96. Anthony Condon (97)
116. Shane Breen (114)

123. Kevin Babington (138)
138. Dermott Lennon (135)
164. Greg Broderick (163)
=182. Cameron Hanley (179)