Carl Hester dazzles: Britain in sight of podium in Olympic grand prix special

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Carl Hester riding En Vogue in the Tokyo Olympics grand prix
Carl Hester ( GBR) riding En Vogue during the Grand Prix - Team and Individual Qualifier for the Olympic Dressage Competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games held at Equestrian Park in Setagaya-ku in Tokyo in Japan between the 23rd July and 8th August 2021
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)

Carl Hester did the business for Britain as the first of our riders into the ring for the grand prix special at Tokyo Olympic dressage, riding En Vogue. This competition is to decide the team medals. They produced a harmonious display to score 78.344%.

“Charlotte [Dujardin] said ‘you don’t have a choice, you have to go for it,” said Carl. “I have struggled with his nerves and finding the right balance, but today, the cliché was true – he was a boy going in, and he came out a man tonight.”

Martha Terry
Martha Terry
Features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.