In a dramatic conclusion to this afternoon’s Longines Grand Prix at St. Gallen Bertram Allen and Hector van d’Abdijhoeve grabbed the glory when victory looked to be in the grasp of fellow Irish rider Richard Howley.

Howley and Chinook had produced what looked like the winning round when fourth to go in the jump-off after a sweetly-executed turn to the second-last helped them post a time of 45.64 to take a decisive lead.

There were still nine riders left, and while there were plenty of clears, Howley’s time was holding with room to spare.

Second-last to go Paul Estermann of Switzerland looked to be the biggest threat on Lord Pepsi but he missed by half a second, and it was down to Allen and Hector to deny Howley which they did, stopping the clock close to a second quicker in 44.75.

Of the other two Irish riders in the contest Anthony Condon had an early pole down and a time fault with Balzac to miss the jump-off while Dermott Lennon retired with Fleur.

Meanwhile in Denmark Allen’s former mount Quiet Easy carried Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen to victory today in the three-star 1m50 speed class at Uggerhalne.

Josh Tobin