O'Connor steals show from Arab riders

Irish ace O'Connor holds off top Arab riders to clinch Gulf News Dubai Cup at show jumping championships

Top Irish show jumper Cian O'Connor demonstrated that he is the man to beat in today's Grand Prix finale, when he fought off some tough competition from a threatening pack of Arab riders to win the Gulf News Dubai Cup at the Dubai International Endurance City yesterday.

The 31-year-old Dublin native, who was riding the highly regarded nine-year-old chestnut gelding Larkhill Cruiser, delivered the best of 11 faultless rounds to win in a time of 63.38 seconds. O'Connors' heroics on day two of the Dubai Show Jumping Championships 2011 earned him a top prize of Dh32,000.

Syria's Ahmad Saber Hamcho finished best of the Arab riders to snatch second place in 65.39 seconds for a prize purse of Dh25,000 while the UAE's Arif Ahmad was a gallant third in an ultra-competitive class which is the pre-qualifier for the FEI World Cup in Germany. Ahmad recorded a time of 65.59 seconds aboard Randor K and collected a cheque for Dh18,000.

According to the event's rules, the top 25 Arab riders will join the four European riders who finished in the top 25 in yesterday's Gulf News Dubai Cup, in today's Dh170,000 DEC Grand Prix. Among the motley crew of non-Arab qualifiers were Germany's Lena Timm (11th yesterday), Italy's Andre Sakakini (16th) and French rider Frederic David (20th).