Super Sophie bags gala double
Sophie Wells collected her second gala title in as many nights as she danced to victory aboard Valerius in the inter I freestyle at the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships.
The Rio 2016 Paralympic gold medal-winning combination rode to the same Tom Hunt soundtrack as last year’s Games, but with a more technical floorplan on this occasion.
The pair scored 75.83% – a clear three percent above second placed Lara Griffith and Kristjan.
“I almost cried when I found out I had won,” said Sophie, who won yesterday’s PSG freestyle with C Fatal Attraction.
“I didn’t expect to win last night either. It is so nice to win and prove that para is no different to able bodied dressage.”
Lara and the Bechtolsheimer’s talented 12-year-old gelding treated the audience to a flowing routine accompanied by a J-Lo compilation set to a Latin best.
A highlight was the two-time flying changes, which were exactly in time.
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“He loves a party, which makes him a fun horse to ride,” said Lara.
Taking third was Nathalie Kayal with her own DHI Homerun (“Jojo”) on a score of 72%.
“I’m really surprised,” said Nathalie. “It was a really hot class tonight — I followed Sophie in and I could see she was going to do a lovely test.
“The horses have really felt the atmosphere tonight.”
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Nathalie, who trains with Roland Tong, Carl Hester and Debbie Childs, said she worked with several people to put together the dramatic soundtrack for her test.
“He has been here twice before, so it was third time lucky,” she laughed.
She added Jojo “absolutely loves” people and gets so excited when getting ready for a show he does what is affectionately known as his “Disney dance” – likening his enthusiasm to that of a child going to Disneyland.
“If there was an award for cuddliest horse, he would beat Valegro,” she added.
“He really wanted to show everybody his moves tonight.”
Don’t miss this week’s issue of Horse & Hound – out Thursday (20 April) for a full report from the Winter Dressage Championships and Area Festival finals
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.