Becky Moody and Jagerbomb put in a marvellous and composed performance as Great Britain’s pathfinders in the Paris 2024Olympic dressage grand prix special to score a new personal best of 76.49%.
Entering the arena to cheers, the combination’s half-passes were exceptional picking up several nines, and their transitions for each movement were spot-on.
But what Becky will be most pleased with is the piaffe-passage work, which makes up almost half of the technical marks available in the special.
She told H&H in March that it was an area Jagerbomb had improved in the most, and it was a highlight here.
“He’s a total dude and such a lovely, lovely horse,” said Becky. “He’s been quite spicy here this week I have to say. Carl [Hester] has helped me out an awful lot to find that inner calm in both of us.
“At the beginning we were quite excited and didn’t really want to stand still so we did a very quick halt – it was brief enough just for me to drop my hand but as soon as we were there and going, we were on it.”
The main medal contenders – Britain, Denmark and Germany – have all elected to have their lowest-scoring combinations from the grand prix ride in the first group of three, saving their best combinations until last.
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This means at the end of each group, each rider is effectively competing against a rider from each of their main competitors, in a live running battle. And in that battle, Becky and Jagerbomb have done remarkably, seeing off Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Vayron (75.97%) and Frederic Wandres and Bluetooth OLD (75.94%), who both had mistakes.
That put Britain into the provisional lead, but Becky wasn’t getting ahead of herself – which was difficult, with a few in the mixed zone talking up a potential British team treble following the showjumping and eventing teams successes.
“I’ve just come here to do the best I can do,” she said. “The team around me are amazing and what will be will be. We all want gold but we have some very, very tough competition, so we’re all just going to do our thing and see where that leaves us.”
Next up, teammates Carl Hester and Fame will compete at 1.05pm local time (12.05pm British time) while Lottie Fry and Glamourdale will ride at 3.05pm local time (2.05pm British time).
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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).
