It was no surprise to see Charlotte Dujardin win the Saracen Inter I freestyle to music at the Lemieux National Dressage Championships with the hugely exciting Imhotep.
The Everdale x Vivaldi son scored 78.625%, two percent ahead of Lucinda Elliott and Hawtins Duchessa on 76.52%.
“It’s been interesting coming back here and riding him after spending so much time with his sire Everdale out in Tokyo and I can now see where he gets his limitless energy from – he is just like his dad,” said Charlotte.
“At home he lives out 24/7 so it’s been a big learning curve for him to come here where he has been stabled, but he’s been out hand-grazing as much as possible and it is good practice for internationals in the future.
“He’s hotter today than he was on the first day, but he loves this and it will be handy in the future when he has to do three grand prix tests in quick succession as he’s never, ever going to run out of energy.”
Fiona Wilson, who was judging at C, said: “Charlotte rides all shapes and sizes and gets the best out of all of them. I watched this horse from the side lines on Friday and he was very hot.
“I judged him yesterday and then again today and he’s really grown over the three days. The height and the cadence in the trot is phenomenal and the canter pirouettes are for 8.5 or 9, but then Charlotte is the queen of pirouettes on any horse.”
The win also secured the overall Inter I championship for the partnership at the National Dressage Championships, Imhotep having easily won Friday’s Inter I gold.
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