Ireland’s Denis Lynch Takes Five Star Win at CSI Basel, Switzerland

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Swiss riders were again denied a victory on home soil on Saturday at CSI5* Basel, Switzerland as Ireland’s Denis Lynch galloped ahead Romain Duguet of Switzerland in the 51,000 CHF Prize of the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois.

Lynch won the tough competition of the Hotels Les Trois Rois of his supporter Thomas Straumann with Abbervail can het Dingeshof in a jump-off of nine. Duguet placed only 16 hundreths of a second behind him aboard Twentytwo des Biches for second, and Jerome Guery of Belgium was 3rd with Grand Cru van de Rozenberg. With his bronze medal horse from the European Championship, Castlefield Ecplise, Paul Estermann was the only other Swiss rider was in the jump-off, but with one mistake he finished in eighth. Also in the rankings were the Swiss riders Daniel Etter with Kheops du Roset (10.) and Werner Muff with Fleur (11.).

It was an especially tall order to jump double clear in Saturday’s feature class; 11 riders chose to retire in round one, and 16 pairs incurred two rails down or more. However, Lynch, who has been in the tack of Abbervail, a 16-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Jaak Vermeulen x Jus De Pomme) for the last nine years, used his partnership well to take home the top prize of the night.

The 7th annual Longines CSI Basel has also been the tournament of Italian rider in uniform: Emanuele Gaudiano. The South Italian-born rider who has lived in Frankfurt for the last decade won the Grand Show Jumping Hunting Competition of Solbau GmbH with his fast mare Cocoshynsky, his second win of the week thus far. In the main competition of the day he was the fastest in the jump-off, but with one rail down he finished as seventh.

All eyes will be on Basel Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm local time as the qualified riders line up for the Longines Grand Prix CSI5*.

For full results of the 51,000 CHF Prize of the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, click here.