Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro win World Cup leg in Amsterdam
Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro won their 2nd consecutive leg of the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Western European League in Amsterdam with a score of 91.275% on Saturday (25 January).
The Olympic individual gold medallist’s mark was 2.7% less than the world record score that she posted at Olympia (17 December). However, she was still more than 6% ahead of her nearest rival Edward Gal on Glock’s Undercover.
Charlotte announced that she would not be using her famous Olympic score again after Olympia and instead returned to her original music for this freestyle.
“I love riding to that music. I know how I am with it, so I could relax and have fun — and my horse did too!” she said.
There was just a minor blip in the 2-time changes, when Valegro was briefly startled by a photographer’s flash, but otherwise the pair looked in total harmony.
The performance was even more impressive because Charlotte had not been able to prepare Valegro for the competition.
“I’ve been away for 2 weeks in New Zealand and only got back on Sunday so only rode for a couple of days before the show,” Charlotte said. “I’m not used to that, but Carl kept him going for me.
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“Yesterday (in the grand prix, which they also won) he was very good, but today he was even better. I felt we were back in the flow of it again.”
This victory puts them in a strong position to qualify for the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage Final at Lyon, France in April.
Charlotte will next head to ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands (23 March) where she will debut her new freestyle floor plan and music.
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.