An excellent showing at the Global Champions Tour meeting in Shanghai last weekend has propelled Darragh Kenny to a share of 34th place in the latest Longines FEI World Rankings published on Thusday.
 
It represents a climb of eleven places for Kenny, and he is now the third-highest-ranked Irish rider in the standings. 

Still leading the way for the Irish is Bertram Allen at number 15, a drop of one place from last month. Conor Swail has also dropped slightly from 29th to 31st.
 
Cian O’Connor is down from 34th to 37th, and the Meath rider’s standing will not be helped by the fact that he will miss the month of May while he recovers from injury.
 
Denis Lynch remains at 39th, while Shane Sweetnam moves up one place to 41st, and Billy Twomey also climbs one place from 45th to 44th.
 
All three young riders who performed well in Rodrigo Pessoa’s first nations cup team at Lummen at the weekend have climbed the standings as a result. Richard Howley enters the top 200 on a share of 179th, a rise of twenty-five places, while Michael Duffy climbs from 271st to a share of 247th, and Paul Kennedy is up from 327th to 285th.
 

There were some significant changes inside the top ten, with Kent Farrington moving to number one ahead of compatriot McLain Ward. Italian Lorenzo De Luca, who was the most successful overseas rider at last year’s Dublin Horse Show, storms into the top 10 at number 6 having, like Darragh Kenny, had considerable success in Shanghai.

 

Mike Dunne

 

Longines FEI World Rankings 
(last month’s position in brackets)
 
1. (2) Kent Farrington (USA)
2. (1) McLain Ward (USA)
3. (3) Daniel Deusser (GER)
4. (5) Eric Lamaze (CAN)
5. (4) Christian Ahlmann (GER)
6. (11) Lorenzo De Luca (ITA)
7. (8) Marcus Ehning (GER)
8. (7) Kevin Staut (FRA)
9. (6) Simon Delestre
10.(8) Scott Brash (GBR)
 
Irish Riders inside top 300
 
15. (14) Bertram Allen
31. (29) Conor Swail
= 34. (45) Darragh Kenny
37. (34) Cian O’Connor
39. (39) Denis Lynch
41. (42) Shane Sweetnam
44. (45) Billy Twomey
58. (58) Daniel Coyle
= 64. (65) Richie Moloney
111. (108) Shane Breen
112. (117) Anthony Condon
=118. (129) Dermott Lennon
135. (135) Greg Broderick
= 179. (204) Richard Howley
206. (217) Cameron Hanley
= 247. (271) Michael Duffy
285. (327) Paul Kennedy

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