GERMANY’S TONI Hassmann scored the biggest win of his career to leave the RDS €66,500 richer after victory in the Longines Grand Prix on the closing day of the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show yesterday.
The 33-year-old was one of 11 through to a truly international jump-off, with no fewer than eight nations represented. But Irish input was limited to just one, Thomas Ryan, after the big guns, including Denis Lynch and Jessica Kürten, went out in the first round.
Ryan, who is based near Zurich in Switzerland, opted for a safe clear and Urleven Van De Helle duly obliged, but a time of 60.71 was never going to scare off the speed merchants still waiting in the wings and he finished down the line in seventh at the finish.
Swiss star Beat Mandli promptly slashed off more than nine seconds to take over the lead, but Hassmann found an even faster route to break the 50-second barrier and his time of 49.19 proved the undoing of the rest.
It was an impressive performance from the 13-year-old mare Lolita, which spent two and a half years on the sidelines following a colic operation and leg problems, but has come back to the big time with a vengeance, winning three of her last four Grand Prix outings.
Pius Schwizer gave it his best shot to clock 50.21 and relegate his compatriot Mandli to third, before last man in Abdel Said looked set to claim a historic win for Egypt until falling foul of the second-last to leave Hassmann out in front. Schwizer picked up €42,000 for second place and boosted his day’s earnings by a further €13,000 for the Longines Elegance prize.
Laura Kraut, a member of America’s Olympic gold medal team, took the award as most elegant female.
Former Irish team member Peter Charles was also in line for the elegance prize, but a nasty fall at the water put paid to his chances. “I don’t remember anything about it,” Charles said afterwards. “I’ve got a headache and my neck is stiffening up, but that’s the sport for you. We won the King’s Cup two weeks ago and now this.”
Although the Grand Prix was the second big plum to elude the Irish following the Italian triumph in Friday’s Aga Khan, the show was far from a disaster for the home side, with five Irish successes in the 12 international classes on the card.
Dermott Lennon, the 2002 world champion, brought Hallmark Elite out to win Saturday’s feature, the Dublin Stakes, while Capt Shane Carey was one of four Irish to share the Land Rover Puissance honours.
The Army rider, who also topped the line-up for the opening class on Wednesday, won the Longines leading Irish international rider award to provide a timely reminder to “An Bord Snip” that the Army Equitation School has by no means passed its sell-by date.
Frenchman Roger Yves Bost, who notched up his third win of the week with victory in yesterday’s Walls Construction Speed Championship, took the Longines leading rider prize to bring one of the most successful Dublin horse shows to a close.