This must have been the duel of the week in the Fall Tour! On one hand the Italian Emanuele Gaudiano already has three victories on his name over the past three days but on the other hand, Luxembourger Victor Bettendorf has 'only one' victory but also four times a third place and the 4* Grand Prix of last week that he has won. Today, in the big class CSI5* over 1.50m it was Gaudiano who was victorious and took the win in this ranking class with his loyal companion Chalou (v. Chacco-Blue). Bettendorf joined them on stage and took third place with Simolo de La Roque Z (v. Spartacus TN).
"Chalou was especially fast in the jump-off today. We had to give it our all because we knew there were some ambitious riders and very fast horses behind us. Maybe the ones I was most afraid of were Bettendorf, Simon Delestre and Steve Guerdat. I think that I was one of the few who managed to pull off 8 strides between obstacle one and two, which I was able to do because of Chalou's big galop. I guess we also cut some time between the last two obstacles. It was a terrific jump-off to ride and both Chalou and I really pulled it off. We shall see if we can repeat this result tomorrow during the Grand Prix", Gaudiano says.
Simon Delestre filled the gap between Gaudiano and Bettendorf and ended in second position in the saddle of I Amelusina R 51 (v. Dexter R). In fourth place was Penelope Leprevost with Texas (v. Tornesch 142) leaving Steve Guerdat behind them. The Swiss rider was fifth with Is-Minka (v. Mylord Carthago*HN).