“This win is amazing – it’s my first international show in 18 months, so I’m very happy to be back in the ring,” expressed Bettendorf, who also bested 47 entries in the 1.35 Open Jumpers with Million Pleasure earlier in the day. “I have amazing horses and I am so grateful to the owner, John Kimmel, for giving me these opportunities. Good Girl DK has a great heart. She’s very careful and she’s very competitive, and a competitive horse who is careful is always very useful!”

Course designer Guilherme Jorge tested riders with a challenging 13-obstacle track that utilized the expansive Rolex Stadium. It featured a triple bar, an oxer-vertical double combination going away from the gate, and a vertical-oxer-vertical triple combination near the end of the course before riders headed home over the final wide oxer. Seven pairs moved on to the tiebreaker, which began with the triple bar bending to a tall vertical before galloping to the other end of the ring and jumping the first part of the triple combination. Athletes finished with another gallop across the ring before rolling back to the final vertical away from the gate.

As the second in the ring out of 64 entries, Bettendorf was the pathfinder for the night with Good Girl DK and the first to return for the jump-off. Bettendorf used the 10-year-old Selle Francais’ quick gallop to gain the advantage as they cleared all the obstacles in 44.27 seconds and left the rest of the field trying to catch them. Larrazabal was next in the ring with Feeling Chance (Cornet Obolensky x Diamant De Semilly) and came the closest. They left all the rails intact and stopped the timers at 44.55 seconds, which would hold up for second place. Two rounds later, Casas tackled the track with Kanny-Fee, and was the only other rider to clear the track in under 46 seconds, breaking the beam at 45.06 seconds for third place. At the end of the night, Bettendorf returned to the ring to accept the winning honors as the Luxembourg anthem played.

“This is only Good Girl DK’s second 1.50m class, so my plan was not to go crazy, just do a nice round and go quick,” explained Bettendorf. “When I was jumping one to two, she jumped a bit weirdly, so I was not sure if she hit it or not, so I was like, ‘I’m just going to continue my track.’ She’s just naturally a very quick horse!”

This is Bettendorf’s first time showing at the Kentucky Horse Park, and she has already fallen in love with the facility. “The ring is so big and everything here is so nice – it’s just amazing,” she concluded. “Everybody always speaks so nicely about the facility, and it fit really well in our schedule this year. It’s been great, and Good Girl DK feels ready for Saturday!”

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