Equestrian Sport:Cian O'Connor and his protege Dan Walsh came within an ace of winning in Bois le Roi over the weekend, picking up a second place apiece as part of a pretty successful raid on the French prize-fund.

O'Connor brought out his big-wall specialist Casper for Saturday night's six-bar and it went down to a head-to-head with Romain Jucker, until the Swiss rider pulled out after clearing 1.97 metres in the fourth round.

O'Connor went on to try 2.07 metres with his Dublin and Birmingham Puissance winner, but the grey ducked out at the final element.

With the Swiss rider apparently out of the picture, O'Connor assumed he had the class won and retired, only to see Jucker coming back into the ring.

Despite having officially withdrawn, the Swiss man was allowed to jump and went on to win, relegating O'Connor to second.

Dan Walsh emulated his mentor by steering the seven-year-old Conaghy Clover into second place in yesterday morning's small-tour final, finishing just four-hundredths off the pace set by Swiss winner Jessica Putalaz.

But there was no joy for either of the Waterside Stud-based riders in yesterday's Grand Prix, with O'Connor going out with four faults and 23-year-old Walsh also missing the cut with two down.

O'Connor was using Bois le Roi as a tune-up for next weekend's big five-star fixture in Paris, where he will be joined by Jessica Kürten and Billy Twomey.