In the 11-horse jump-off, the diminutive chestnut gelding, which carried Delestre to European bronze two years ago in Aachen, Germany, finished ahead of Mary Lou, ridden by Sweden's Henrik von Eckermann, with third place going to Bianca, ridden by Steve Guerdat, of Switzerland.

The course designer, France's Grégory Bodo, was widely praised for the quality of the track.

Belgium's Pieter Devos, on Claire Z, set a new target of 39.28 seconds but Guerdat, twice a series champion, shaved nearly a quarter off that.

Delestre eventually won in 32.72 with his fellow-countryman, Roger Yves Bost knocking two fences down while trying to catch him and von Eckermann had to settle for second place in 38.85.

The Swede at least finds himself heading the Western European League going into the fifth round in Stuttgart, Germany, in a fortnight.

With 34 points already accumulated, he is on his way to next April's final in Paris.

Guerdat was the individual jumping champion at the London 2012 Olympics and won bronze at Beijing in 2008 in team jumping.

Longines is the world's premiere individual jumping series and is now in its 40th season, with riders from 16 leagues in 43 countries set to take part in the final in Paris from April 10 to 15.

Delestre, 36, whose father, Marcel, was also an international rider, was interested in equestrian sport from early childhood.

In 1999, he was crowned the gold medalist at the France Junior Championships and continued that year to win bronze as part of a team in the European Junior Championships.

The following year he won the gold medal with his team at the European Championship for Young Riders.

In 2011, Delestre was selected to be a reserve rider at the European Championships in Madrid, Spain, where the French team won three silver medals.

The same year, Delestre qualified for the World Cup Final in Leipzig, Germany, where he ranked 16th with Couletto.

At the end of 2011, he came in the Top Ten of the FEI Rolex Ranking List, allowing him to participate in the Final Top Ten IJRC of Paris.

For that race, he finished eighth on Napoli du Ry.

Delestre participated in two World Cup finals, where he finished 10th in Stuttgart and fourth in Zurich. 

However, he failed to qualify for the finals in Hertogensbosch, Netherlands.

Delestre qualified for the 2012 London Olympics on Napoli du Ry, where his coach was Henk Nooren. 

He finished 19th in the individual jumping finals and was part of the French team for team jumping, who came in 12th.