Second in GCL qualifier, winner of the Eiffel Challenge
In front of the impressive Eiffel Tower in Paris, Luxembourg’s top show jumper Victor Bettendorf once again demonstrated his class over the weekend of June 20th. At the CSI 5* show jumping event, part of the Global Champions Tour, he reached the podium twice, including a victory. On Friday, he and Qwando van de Rispen competed in a 1.60-meter class with a prize purse of €80,000. While no one could match the winning time of 65.55 seconds set by Nicola Philippaerts (BEL, Gadget Mouche), Bettendorf and Qwando secured second place with a time of 68.14 seconds. Third place in this class went to Frenchman Olivier Perreau on GI Events Dorai D’Aiguilly (68.75 seconds). Bettendorf later had two rails down in the final and couldn’t replicate his strong performance from the previous day.
However, he made up for it on Sunday with a different horse in a 1.55m class: the “Eiffel Challenge” with a jump-off was won by the Luxembourger on the twelve-year-old mare Encore toi du Linon. His time of 70.97 seconds qualified him for the jump-off in which the clock stopped at exactly 39.00 seconds, securing first place and a prize money of over €41,000. It was a close call: Swede Henrik von Eckermann and Hylanderhof’s Saruschka were less than thirty hundredths of a second slower, clocking in at 39.26 seconds. Even the third-place finisher, Philipp Weishaupt from Germany, was only a fraction of a second slower than the 36-year-old Bettendorf, riding Lady Concern du Rezidal and clocking a time of 39.43 seconds.
“I lived in France for six years, so in many ways this feels like a home show for me. There is no background like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is a once in a lifetime show here, I think a lot of riders would dream to compete here and I was lucky enough to win here so it is just a perfect weekend. To win here in one of the most iconic arenas in our sport is incredibly special” Bettendorf was quoted on the Global Champions Tour website, adding that he was delighted his wife, the horse’s owner, his groom, and his entire team were able to be there.
Translated from German by AI and adjusted by Paul Krier. Original article also to be published in the “Lëtzebuerger Bauer” weekly newspaper.