Praise from winner Martin Fuchs
After his remarkable performances in London and Leipzig, Victor Bettendorf continued the World Cup season in early February in Bordeaux. The Luxembourger impressed on the banks of the river Garonne as well. With Doha de Riverland and Encore toi du Linon entered, it took him two days with his horses to deliver a top result — but then a very strong one! In the €165,000 Grand Prix over 1.60 meters, Bettendorf and Encore toi du Linon had to yield only to the Swiss Martin Fuchs and Conner Hei.
With the only time under seventy seconds (69.64″), he reached the jump-off together with six other riders. The Swiss pair mentioned were a tiny fifteen hundredths faster than Bettendorf and his twelve-year-old Selle Français mare, who finished the course in 34.46 seconds and had been in the lead for quite a while. German Michael Jung finished third on Fischerheros (35.30″).
Bettendorf even received special praise from winner Fuchs: “Victor rode an incredible round, very fast from the first to the last hurdle. I knew I had to start my round at top speed,” the Swiss was quoted in a press release by the Jumping International de Bordeaux.
In Spain between World Cup events
In Oliva in southeastern Spain, Victor Bettendorf previously contested numerous CSI 1* and CSI 3* classes from mid to late January as part of the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour (MET). On January 23 he achieved his first victory of that event series. With Encore toi du Linon he prevailed in the first 1.50 m competition of the meeting, being just four hundredths faster than Belgium’s Jérôme Guery on Qartouche de la Pomme d’Or. Bettendorf recorded a time of 60.40 seconds, Guery 60.44 seconds. Overall it was a very close contest: the third pair, Jörne Sprehe from Germany on Toys, went through the timers in 60.56 seconds, and the fourth, Anna Power from Great Britain, finished less than half a second behind the winners (60.89″).
At the end of the first week of the event the show jumper from the Grand Duchy was again on the top step — twice. With Gedeon de la Roque he posted the best time over 1.45 meters in another two-phase competition (24.83″), ahead of the two Belgians Bart Jay Junior Vandecasteele (Lotti Blue, 25.55″) and again Jérôme Guery (Remus de Mariposa, 25.63″). Above all, the world No. 64 triumphed in the €57,000 Grand Prix over 1.50 meters. Having come to the jump-off with Encore toi du Linon clear in a time of 73.44 seconds — only three pairs qualified for the jump-off — Bettendorf produced the fastest faultless time there. At 38.86 seconds he was almost a second quicker than Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca on Calitiza (39.81″). Third were Jérôme Guery and Careca Ls Elite, with one obstacle down.
Parts of this article were or will be published in De Lëtzebuerger Bauer. Translated from German by AI and adjusted by Paul Krier.