Release date: 24/06/2010 |    

In Cannes it was the smallest horse who won the main prize but when the Global Champions Tour of Monaco began today it was the horse who prefers the smallest arenas who carried away the ribbons to start proceedings. Ireland's Denis Lynch has only been riding Lacroix a matter of weeks but the horse's preference for a tight space is well known after he had three times carried off the British Open title with former rider Robert Whitaker. His time of 50.14 snatched victory from another Irishman Billy Twomey who was riding another ex-Whitaker horse, Tackeray who he has only been riding a week. On an equal time with Billy was Edwina Alexander who was riding Watch Me de Reve Bovnhoeshof . Their time of 50.20 had removed the lead from the super consistent Pako ridden by Richard Spooner but Denis took a real flyer at the last which saved the vital fractions of a second. Richard though, can use his share of the money towards buying a new truck as his caught fire three days ago, and is a complete write off. “We turned on the generator and the air conditioning caught fire and within minutes the whole truck was blazing” explained Richard's wife Kaylen. “Luckily we were just preparing to come, no horses were on board, it could have been a lot worse.” The Spooners arrived in one of the worlds most wealthy countries in a borrowed Land-Rover and trailer!