The pair shattered both the grand prix and freestyle world records on successive nights, adding to the grand prix special record they set two years earlier. To this day, Valegro and Charlotte still hold all three world records.
Below is our original report from that electric evening at Olympia, written by then Horse & Hound dressage editor Alice Collins, along with footage of their iconic freestyle – a performance that helped redefine the sport.
The original report on Charlotte and Valegro’s world record performance
“I just don’t know what more you can ask,” said judge Isobel Wessels after the absolute masters of the dressage universe – Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro – broke a second world record in as many days at Olympia.
The world number ones produced two extraordinary, spellbinding performances to better their own records two nights on the bounce. The horse’s adjustability, willingness, athleticism and power were simply breathtaking.
As Charlotte planted her final halt in the freestyle, smack back on the music, the capacity crowd impulsively rose to their feet and showed their appreciation for the pair who have propelled the sport of dressage into the mainstream consciousness.
“They never missed a beat” is a hackneyed old phrase, but in this instance actually true.
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Charlotte grinned and punched the air, struggling to rein in her emotion.
“In the last piaffe-passage I was nearly in tears,” she said.
“However much I want from this horse, he gives it to me – that’s what makes me so emotional. He just keeps on giving and giving, and it’s the most incredible feeling. When all those people stood up, I felt so proud.”
The pressures of the Olympia arena – with the crowds so close – are well documented. But Charlotte was hot off the red carpet from the Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony in Glasgow, where she was fourth with over 75,000 votes.
“Coming here and performing was the easiest thing in the world after standing in front of 12,000 people. This, riding, is what I do every day – but standing in front of people? No. In a dress? No! I was like a nappy horse when I went up on stage, I just wanted to turn and run. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going to come through my dress.”
She left behind all traces of those nerves for Olympia.
In the grand prix – where the top three were unchanged from 2013 – Charlotte “just rode a schooling round” as 12-year-old Valegro had not been to a show since the World Equestrian Games in Caen in August (where they also won everything – there’s a theme here).
“Win or lose, if he’s tried his hardest and I‘ve done my best, the score is irrelevant,” she shrugged. “The record’s just a bonus.”
The freestyle test was flawless, with not a single mis-step.
Judge Isobel Wessels said: “Everything was there in the test. The difficulty factor maybe didn‘t come across, but that’s because they made everything look so easy – even the canter half-passes were so steep. And Tom Hunt’s music was magical – like a story, not just belting sound out.”
Isobel awarded a remarkable artistic mark of 99%.
“I couldn’t give 100% as I thought the computer would blow up,” she joked. “I wasn’t sure it could take the extra digit. I thought it might be like the millennium bug all over again.”
Fellow judge Stephen Clarke added: “I honestly didn’t think we’d replicate the magic of the night back in 2009 when Edward Gal broke the world record on Totilas – but Charlotte doing this is out of this world. I don’t know what it is about this show, but the horses go amazingly here.”
Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).
