French rider Hubert Bourdy and VDL Groep Eve des Etisses secured first place by just .25 second in the Bordeaux CSI-W, Bordeaux, France, Feb. 4-6, as many favorites failed to reach the jump-off.
Ten riders jumped clear in the ninth leg of FEI Show Jumping World Cup qualifiers. The first four riders in the jump-off each collected 4 faults, so when Bourdy, fifth into the ring, finished clear in 38.43 seconds, the hometown crowd went wild. Bourdy said his mare is “as capable of the best as of the worst.
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“I knew I had so many good riders behind me that I had to go quite fast,” he added. “I was quickest on the course over the first four fences and then eased up a bit, especially before the last, which was a big vertical. I felt I had lost a bit of time there and that I would be caught, but it didn’t happen.”
Great Britain
