Duffy jumps up the world rankings on Portugal tour

Galway show jumper Michael Duffy’s meteoric climb up the international show-jumping ladder continued to gain pace over the last four weeks, where he has been competing very successfully in the World Ranking Atlantic Tour in Villamoura, Portugal.

During this four-week period, Duffy has won 20 top five placings against international competitors from all over Europe, with 80 to 100 competitors on average in each class. Coming into last weekend, Duffy already had three wins and many placings under his belt, but this was to get even better when he won the 1.4 metre class on Friday riding Shahanez and following on immediately to finish third in the 1.45m world Ranking Class riding the grey stallion Widney.

A very fast jump-off was always the prospect with 29 of the 100 starters making it through to the timed round, and Duffy and Widneys time was just one second off the winner.

Saturday provided Duffy with his biggest individual win so far when he came out on top in the 1.45m World Ranking Class worth €23,500, riding the Irish-bred Touch of Chilli, bred by his owner Linda Buchannan.

They annihilated the field of 88 starters when triumphing with three seconds to spare. To top that success, he also finished fourth in the same class with Shahanez. These good results over the month have set Duffy up well for the forthcoming season and will help him to get into even bigger world ranking Shows throughout Europe.