Great show and two winners in the Sensormatic Trophy, last event of the CSI A Coruña 2023

The Sensormatic Trophy was the finishing touch for a historic edition of the CSI A Coruña, full of top figures of the world ranking and with tests of the highest sporting level, which aroused with their performances the enthusiasm of the huge audience that crowded the magnificent facilities of Casas Novas for three days. The CaixaBank trophies of the Global Champions League, the Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of A Coruña and the finishing touch, the Sensormatic Trophy, have had a sporting level that is only reserved for the best competitions in the world and among them, the CSI A Coruña.

The test was disputed by 43 groups on 1'50 meters obstacles and 22 of them made zero, obtaining the passport for the tiebreaker. A tie-breaker that took place on a route of 8 obstacles, with a double, which invited to gallop. But, in addition, in a test very well endowed in prizes and scoring for the Longines FEI Ranking, which also closed the competition, no one wanted to save energy in the attempt to win.

The first participants in the tie-breaker completed their course in around 39 seconds, but their record lost the chance to win when the German David Will stopped the stopwatch in 36'78 with "Zaccorado Blue". However, the race still had plenty of excitement in store and will had to settle for third place in the end.

Henrik Von Eckermann, Phillip Weishaupt, Denis Lynch... all tried to beat him, but they fell short by fractions of a second of the German, until the incredible round of Víctor Bettendorf with "Big Star des Forets" arrived. The Luxembourger, a specialist in speed, galloped with his 12-year-old mare as if the obstacles were not 1.50 meters high, leaving an increasingly impressed audience speechless, with a time of 35.90 seconds.

But the Sensormatic Trophy still held more strong impressions. The last participant was another super-fast rider, one of those where any result could be expected: Simon Delestre. The Frenchman and his mare "Iniesta V" increased their pace as the course progressed, galloping intensely from the third obstacle onwards, facing the Prosegur vertical diagonally, and their return towards the final stretch was daring.

But all this allowed the Frenchman to stop the clock at 35.90 seconds. Incredible! He hadn't beaten it, but he had matched Bettendorf's result, so they both were joint winners of the competition, to the surprise and admiration of an audience that passionately applauded both protagonists. A grand finale for a perfect contest.

Both winners led the prize-giving ceremony and victory lap, receiving the trophy from Ricardo Arroyo, General Director of Johnson Control BT&S Iberia, accompanied by Flora Pérez representing Casas Novas.