Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos scored a magnificent personal best in front of a home crowd to seal team gold for Denmark at the Blue Hors FEI World Dressage Championships.
The duo entered the arena with a target of 80.636% to equal the British team’s leading mark of 234.223.
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, was among the ground watching on as the combination produced a grand prix-topping mark of 81.86% in the World Dressage Championships results. As the score flashed up, Cathrine clutched her head with the realisation dawning at what she and the 10-year-old gelding had achieved.
“I’m head over heels,” said Cathrine, who co-owns Vamos Amigos with Sarah Pidgley. “My biggest highlight was the fact that I managed to ride on the limit and stay on the right side of chaotic and brilliant.”
This Vitalis gelding is an absolute powerhouse in a perfectly compact frame. His activity in every movement, particularly through the piaffe and passage, and effortless lightness through his seamless transitions lit up the arena. There was little to split the in-running trending scores of the Danish pair with provisional leaders, Britain’s Lottie Fry and Glamourdale (80.84%). The crowd erupted at their final halt, with the score on the screen showing 80.8%, before the final marks took the pair – and the Danish team – into the lead.
“I’m really used to this pressure because I’ve been doing championships since I was 11 years old. But of course, there’s pressure,” she said.
“I could hear the two ladies on the ground [Cathrine’s team-mates] They were really quiet and I was like, ‘Hey, ladies, we can do this’. I’m really good with that pressure. And it sounds weird, but it sort of just brings me even closer into the zone. Luckily today it just went super.
“He [Vamos Amigos] was on fire today, and I even stopped my entrance because I was like ‘Vamos, relax, I’m here. You have to touch the ground just once in a while. So we will turn around, and then we go’.
“It was fantastic. This is a world championship we were riding with the team, so it’s about taking calculated risks, but today, it went good.”
Winning gold – Denmark’s first team victory at a world championships – in front of a home crowd was a moment beyond words.
“It means a lot. It meant a lot just being in there,” she said. “The other day when we did the arena familiarisation, I felt so proud riding in there with [my teammates] Daniel, Nana, and Carina, because they are fantastic three riders, and they are my colleagues. That was really a moment to remember for me here.”
She shared her thanks to the supportive home crowd – “they rocked that arena” – and to another very special horse, Attherupgaards Cassidy, for his part in her achievement.
The 19-year-old gelding is in Herning this week for his official retirement ceremony and Cathrine said she owes him “everything”.
“I was actually quite nervous this morning,” she said. “Then I had a ride on Cassidy and I realised, ‘Okay, this is why I’m so good riding with the pressure’, because he was like, ‘come on, Mummy, now I’m saving the situation for you’. I had a fantastic journey down at the stable, and I was almost crying because it just made me realise that it’s because of him.
“He filled my rucksack with confidence and the belief that of course I can do it.”
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