British dressage riders dominate with personal bests and high scores

British dressage riders were in scorching form at the weekend, registering brilliant personal bests and high scores at the four-star in Fritzens, Austria.

Charlotte Dujardin and the nine-year-old Valegro were awarded several 10’s and 9’s, scoring a fantastic personal best of 77.979% to win the grand prix for special — beating her mentor Carl Hester into second in the process.

“I only started grand prix this year and I can’t believe that I’ve progressed this quickly,” said a clearly delighted Charlotte.

“I think that Valegro is getting stronger and our test riding is becoming easier. He’s only nine and we don’t want to push him too hard, but riding him is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he’s everything you could ever wish for in a horse.”

But Carl couldn’t be kept down for long and followed up with a score of 80.958% to trounce the field in the grand prix special aboard Uthopia. With Charlotte in second and Emile Faurie in third, it was a top result for the Brits.

And with Emma Hindle finishing second in the grand prix for kur and the grand prix kur, it was a strong performance from our riders as the countdown to 2012 continues.

For full report from the event, don’t miss Thursday’s (30 June) H&H.

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