Two podium finishes for the Luxembourger
Following his impressive rides in London, which earned him the Leading Rider award, Victor Bettendorf continued his success from the English capital at the Partner Pferd event in Leipzig. In the Saxon city, he reached the podium twice and also finished in the top five once. In a 1.45-meter class, he finished second on the fifteen-year-old mare Cancun Torel, behind Germany’s Michael Jung on Eclaire, just 53 hundredths of a second behind the winner, with a time of 57.88 seconds. Third place went to Czech rider Sara Vingralkova on Constantin (59.36 seconds).
On the same day, Bettendorf achieved an even more remarkable result on Doha de Riverland: in the 1.55m World Cup qualifier – also a speed class – he finished third with a time of 66.11 seconds. The Dutchman Jur Vrieling won on Grand Slam (63.72 seconds), ahead of Michael Jung riding Fischerheros (64.65 seconds). “Another solid round and a great feeling with Doha,” the Luxembourgish show jumper later commented on his Instagram channel.
In the subsequent Grand Prix of the Leipzig World Cup tournament, a 1.60m class with a prize purse of €205,000, Bettendorf and Doha de Riverland had to retire. After the 9th round of the Western European League World Cup, Bettendorf is ranked 51st with 11 points from three appearances so far. The final will take place from April 8th to 12th in Fort Worth, Texas (USA).
Last Saturday, the 36-year-old Luxembourger achieved a 5th place finish in another 1.45m class. Bettendorf again secured this score with Cancun Torel. This was a Speed & Handiness class show jumping competition, where faults are converted into seconds and added to the rider’s time. The current world number 64 was the fastest through the course in this class, however he received a 3-second penalty for faults, while the four riders ahead of him, although some were over 2 seconds slower than Bettendorf, did not incur any penalty seconds.
Translated from German by AI and reviewed and adjusted by Paul Krier.