Today's other stories in brief

Kürten lands the top prize

Jessica Kürten, riding Castle Forbes Libertina, overcame food poisoning and 34 rivals to take the Rolex FEI world cup qualifier at Olympia on Saturday afternoon and now leads the western European league on 53 points, writes Margie McLoone.

This sixth leg of the series offered the week's biggest prize, €30,000, to the winner and it was hard won with just seven combinations making it through to the second round. Kürten raced through the finish to stop the clock on 38.54. Nick Skelton did his best to keep the prize at home, but Arko III just failed to find the necessary speed, finishing second in 38.77.

In a week dominated by the Whitaker family, the younger generation of the Yorkshire clan won two of the top prizes. On Friday, 18-year-old William landed the Accenture Christmas Puissance while last night his 24-year-old cousin Robert finished the six-day show in style by landing the Masters class on the mare Prima Vera.

Glynn out of O'Byrne Cup

Wicklow's Leighton Glynn will miss the O'Byrne Cup and a large slice of the National League campaign after undergoing a groin operation in the past week. The Rathnew footballer and Glenealy hurler went under the surgeon's knife in the Mater Hospital on Tuesday and will be out of action for at least 12 weeks. Leighton expects to be back in action with the county footballers for the latter stages of the league as Wicklow seek to gain promotion from the basement fourth division.