Allen brothers go close in Spain
BERTRAM ALLEN had one hand on victory in Gijon on Sunday before being nabbed late on.
Just 48 hours after his brother Harry posted a runner-up finish in four-star competition under the Spanish sun, the Wexford athlete did the same and then grabbed another chunk of prize money when fourth in the four-star Derby, the Gran Premio de Gijón.
Allen and the exciting eight-year-old Gary de Cerisy were 27th of 35 pairings into the arena for the Trofeo Lacera, a 1.45m speed class.
They moved serenely to the top of the leaderboard with a clear round in a time of 67.62 that was a second a half quicker than the eventual third place finisher, Julio Arias Cueva (Spain) on Dolce Vita des Ouches.
This mark survived until the third-last combination of Kara Chad (Canada) and Igor Gph sauntered into the ring.
It was the only sauntering from them however, as they flew from start to finish to comfortably better Allen’s time, clocking 65.19.
Nonetheless, it was a cracking result for the Irish pair on a fruitful couple of days for the Ballywalter Stables team. Allen teamed up with Caprisco in the Derby, being quickest of the four-faulters in the jump-off for fourth and €20,000, with victory going to Sanne Thijssen (Netherlands) and Con Quidam RB.
Only six qualified for the second round and Harry Allen was best of the rest on Calculatus to make €6,000.
The younger Allen is the fourth-ranked Under-25 show jumper on the planet and we were reminded why once again when he secured two ribbons including that aforementioned four-star podium finish on Friday.
Allen began his raid with a fifth-place finish in the two-star 1.45m Grand Prix on nine-year-old mare Kazelli VDL before taking second in the day’s 1.50m feature on Lukaku Vd Bisschop.
Only Allen, with his 13-year-old partner, and Álvaro González De Zarate (Spain) on Casa Diva PS, could answer Frank Rothenberger’s questions flawlessly on two occasions, but it was the home contingent that were celebrating as their time of 43.54 was less than half a second quicker than the Irish pair.