McGregor (ISH) wins ranking class at Lummen

Olympian Bertram Allen and the Irish Sport Horse Pacino Amiro finished a magnificent third place in the €500,000 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix at Windsor on Sunday.

The Wexfordman, on board 2022’s second highest-earning horse, jumped beautifully in both rounds of the five-star class at the London venue to land a podium place.

Having been second to enter the ring in his first round, Allen and Pacino Amiro were impeccable when jumping clear in a time of 74.00 seconds to join eight other combinations in the jump-off.

A time of 34.50 seconds in round two was quick but the world’s number four rider Martin Fuchs, on board Connor Jei, was that bit faster on 33.37 seconds. Ben Maher and Olympic champion Explosion W finished in second after jumping clear in a time of 33.77 seconds.

27-year-old Allen was joined in the top 10 by fellow Irishman Trevor Breen, who was desperately unlucky not to make the jump-off, picking up a single time fault after a clear round on Highland President.

Speaking after the result, Allen said: “I’m delighted with that – Pacino was brilliant today, he was in great form.

“He’s been very consistent recently and it’s another nice result in a big five-star Rolex Grand Prix.”

Owned by Aiden McGrory and bred by Simon Scott, 11-year-old gelding Pacino Amiro (ISH) and Allen have recorded some excellent results this year, including winning two 1.55m ranking classes in the CSI5* in February and in the CSI5* in March at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.