In a thrilling seven-way jump-off for this afternoon’s Land Rover Grand Prix at the five-star meeting in Bordeaux, Ireland’s Bertram Allen took second place behind Belgium’s Pieter Devos.

Riding Izzy By Picobello, Allen was last of the seven to go in the final round, and fell short of catching Devos and Apart by almost a second, but did enough to oust Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum and Chaman from second place by fractions.

The top three were well clear of France’s Penelope Leprovost and Ratina d’la Rousserie, who had led earlier after outpacing Sweden’s Henrik von Eckerman’s opening clear on Mary Lou 194.

Today’s second placing helped net Allen the Leading Rider accolade for the meeting.

At the three-star fixture in Villach, Austria, Ireland’s sole representative Thomas Ryan stayed clear on Quite Zero until the final obstacle but ended up with five faults and out of the contest. Germany’s Maximillian Schmid on Chacon came out on top in a closely fought jump-off.

Mike Dunne