Banner Week for Bettendorf: $30,000 Grand Prix Victory at WEC – Wilmington Winter Classic 16
29 MAR 26 Wilmington, OH
Wilmington, Ohio – The Standlee Sanctuary at World Equestrian Center – Wilmington set the stage for an electrifying $30,000 Grand Prix, where 18 competitive combinations vied for the top prize. In the end, Charlotte Bettendorf and Kalliope led the victory gallop for the second week in a row.
Robert Barton designed a track that allowed six partnerships to advance to the jump-off phase, where each proved faster than the last. Ultimately, Bettendorf and Richard Rinehart battled it out for the top spot.
Bettendorf returned first aboard John Kimmel’s 11-year-old Oldenburg mare, Vivante Grafinia Ps (Vivant Van De Heffinck x Grafina), setting a quick pace of 32.824 seconds to ultimately earn third place.
Rinehart was the only rider to best her time, stopping the clock in 31.84 seconds aboard his own Victory Rw Broekkant Z (Vigo D’Arsouilles x Evolution), a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. However, Bettendorf returned as the final entry with Kalliope (Emerald Van’t Ruytershof x Delight).
“She’s amazing. She’s such a fighter,” Bettendorf said of the 10-year-old Belgian Sport Horse mare. “I really have to say thank you to JFK Farms for letting me ride all these incredible horses. It was my first show with all of them, and I think this weekend I had only one rail down. So, they’re incredible horses, and she is just so quick and so careful. I’m really excited and happy for the future and what it will bring.”
With a blazing fast time to beat, Bettendorf trusted her quick and careful mare around the short course, stopping the clock in 31.557 seconds to take the top spot and move Rinehart into second.
“On Kalliope, I knew that I could take the direct line to jump three. I was also able to do one less stride to the last jump, and it worked out,” she said of her jump-off plan. “She was helping me a lot. I didn’t know if I was quicker than Richard, so I looked at the screen and saw I was a little bit faster. It’s fun when it’s so competitive. There were 18 in it, but it was very competitive and so much fun.”
She also shared her first impressions of the facility: “I really love it here. It’s so amazing for the horses—you can ride them outside, you have super fences, super footing. People are always so nice, and it’s so clean. Really, I have to say everything is so well taken care of. I’ll definitely be back!”
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