Bertram Allen youngest rider to win GCT

Irish rider Bertram Allen has made history by becoming the youngest rider to win a Longines Global Champions Tour (GCT) Grand Prix.

Wonder boy

The 19-year-old finished just tenths of a second ahead of the overall series leader Luciana Diniz, while fellow Irishman Darragh Kenny took third place.

The eighth Grand Prix in the GCT series saw six of the world’s top 10 riders competing on the Champs de Mars next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Five riders made it through to third and final round against the clock, but it was the Irish wonder boy who posted the fastest time of 37.32sec riding Romanov.

‘Really special’

“I’ve only done a few Longines Global Champions Tours because I wasn’t ranked high enough last year, so to have my first podium finish and to get on top is even more special,” said Bertram.

“I have to show so much appreciation to my horse – 17 years old and trying that hard over three rounds in this heat,” he added.

Portugal’s Lucina was just behind him with Fit For Fun 13 (37.84sec). The second place extends her lead on the league table, and she is now 44 points ahead of Scott Brash.

Scott had an unfortunate four faults in the second round with Hello Sanctos which put them in eighth place. John Whitaker and Argento also had one down in round two, to come 11th.

Joint podium

On the final day of the tour, Ben Maher and Egypt’s Karim El Zoghby achieved identical times in the jump-off to share first place in the Prix de la Ville de Paris.

“It’s a first for me to have a joint podium, and certainly a first that I’ve seen in that level for a long time,” said Ben. “In sport everyone likes a clear winner, but it was hard to separate the horses today and I’m very happy with the result.

Watch Longines Global Champions Tour showjumping on Horse & Country TV at thefollowing times.