Carl Hester delivers his best – but Germany strike straight back in the race for gold at the Dressage World Championships
Carl Hester produced one of the best rounds of his career to keep Britain in touch – only for Katharina Hemmer’s personal best to hand the initiative straight back to Germany. Here’s what Lottie Fry needs to do on the final day to win gold, and what Britain must do just to hold on to silver
After Becky Moody and Jagerbomb’s difficult grand prix yesterday (11 August), the British team needed a big result from Carl Hester and Fame to keep them in the race for gold at the 2026 Dressage World Championships.
In response, Carl delivered a masterclass. He never looked rushed, rearranging his seat before the rein-back and softening his hands to let Fame stretch through the extended trot.
“It was just details that I felt in every movement,” Carl said. “My twos had nice ground cover and felt straight. The extended canter I could ride out, the zigzag again – he’s just so lovely and easy, I don't even do those in the warm-up, I just save it for the test.”
The pirouettes, in particular, have become his trump card. “The horse I rode before him, En Vogue, taught me how to do a pirouette, and Fame and I just enjoy doing them together for as high a mark as possible, because I know that’s my double-marked movement and I know that’s something I can go for, and I can make it small with him."
The 16-year-old stallion can at times be electric, but Carl’s riding visibly gave him confidence throughout, and although their 77.31% wasn't a personal best, it was one of the most accomplished rounds of Carl’s career, especially given the circumstances.
He knew exactly what was riding on it. “It was important for me to try and get my best score today. I needed to – yes, it was very much on my mind,” he said. “I knew Daniel [Bachmann Andersen]’s score was above 74%, so I needed to try to move ahead of that, because we might have a difference [to catch up] when Freestyle and Glamourdale go as well – we want to try and keep them as close together as possible so we don’t make the gap too big.”
He was quick to support his teammate, too. “Becky beat herself up yesterday with her test, which she shouldn’t, because she delivers again and again and again,” he said. “I thought her highlights between the mistakes were the best work I’ve seen her do. So on one hand you get a hotter horse that doesn’t want to walk, and then you get your best piaffe – this is where experience and age come in.”
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Even with a target hit, Carl was characteristically modest about the number itself. “It’s not the best score I’ve ever had, but at a World Championships you‘re just happy – I said this morning I’m aiming for between 75% and 77%, I’d be comfortable with that. I’ve gone over 77%, so I should be ready for a really large glass of... water.”
The gold and silver equation
Carl’s score has indeed strengthened Britain’s grip on silver – with Fiona’s score discarded, Becky and Carl’s combined total gives Lottie Fry and Glamourdale a 4.08% cushion over Denmark’s equivalent position ahead of Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle.
But as we go into the lunch break, it’s Germany that has stretched its overall team lead, thanks to a stunning individual performance from Katharina Hemmer and Denoix PCH, who topped the leaderboard for the day with a personal best of 79.22%.
“It’s of course very special to deliver a personal best in front of the home crowd at a World Championships,” she said. “But he was already doing good in the classes he did [this season] – there weren’t many, but what he did was good. I had the feeling that in our preparation we made a step forward, and we were even better than before the last show. So I was feeling quite confident, and I think Denoix felt confident as well.”
Asked what stood out most, she pointed to the feel of the test rather than any single movement. “I think it was probably the harmony during the whole test – I could really do everything with light aids. He was listening, and I think that was what made it good.”
Knowing Carl’s score before she entered the ring only settled her further. "Yes, because I asked – I had the headset with Hubertus [Schmidt] and Monica [Theodorescu], and I asked, ‘What did he get?’ And they said, ‘77%’ And I said, ‘Oh, well, that’s no problem, because we had 77% in the last two grands prix, and we’re in better shape now.’ It gave me a push.”
If anything, the context took the pressure off rather than adding to it. “I didn’t ask too much, because I also knew that the boys on the team had done very well, and we were in a very good situation,” she said, adding with a laugh: “And I also know that even if I’d scored a little lower, that would only push Isabell [Werth] to score higher.
“I was in a very, very good situation today, and that made me feel relaxed and confident.”
It's amazing to think what Denoix PCH could still achieve riding at only half power. For me, Katharina was the difference-maker in the race for gold at last summer’s Europeans – the only rider across Germany and Britain’s core trios to outperform her season’s grand prix average, posting 75.7% against a pre-championships average of 74.3%, a jump of 1.4 points at exactly the moment it mattered most, while her German teammates and all three of Britain's trio dipped below theirs. And she’s done it again – what a competitor. You have to take your hat off to her.
That performance leaves Britain’s route to gold hinging heavily on Isabell. If she has a disaster and scores below 73.34%, Raphael Netz’s discarded score gets reinstated as Germany’s third counting total, capping their total at 228.525 regardless of how low Isabell’s actual score goes – in that scenario, Lottie would need to beat 77.39% for gold.
But if Isabell scores 73.34% or higher – the far more likely outcome, given her season average of 80.39% – her score counts instead, and Lottie would need to outscore her by more than 4.05% to win gold. If Isabell rides to anything close to her usual level, that’s almost impossible: matching her season average would push Germany’s total to 235.577, meaning Lottie would need above 84.44% – well into personal-best or beyond territory.
Silver still isn’t guaranteed either, and the picture there is tighter than that 4.08% cushion suggests. Britain currently leads Denmark by that margin, so Lottie doesn't need to outscore Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour at all – she just needs to stay within 4.08 points of her. But Cathrine's own season average sits at 83.43% – considerably higher than anyone else left to ride – so if she rides to form, Lottie would need something close to 79.35% just to keep Britain ahead of Denmark. That's within Lottie's own season average of 79.62%, but only just – so it’s actually a much tighter margin than it might appear on paper.
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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).