Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro once again beat their own world record today, scoring a mammoth 87.460% to win the Reem Acra FEI World Cup Grand Prix test at Olympia.
Stellar
Their test this evening was their usual perfect blend of assured ease and breathtaking brilliance. The pair glided through the Grand Prix movements with only a few tiny mistakes or moments of tension, the horse known as the ‘Professor of dressage’ generally at his most scholarly.
The pair received their customary flurry of 10s from the judges, with Stephen Clarke at E scoring them as highly as 89.300%. But Charlotte – who is feeling under the weather with a cold – wasn’t particularly aiming for another new world record.
“I used it as a schooling round, I wanted to enjoy it,” said Charlotte. “I don’t go in there to break a world record, I don’t know what a world record test feels like, sometimes it just happens!”
Tomorrow
Nor is the pair going all out to beat their own world record in tomorrow’s Freestyle. “Tomorrow is another competition, I love the Freestyle and so does Blueberry, so we’ll just go out and let rip,” she said.
It was the first time Valegro has competed since the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. After a few months holiday out in the field, Valegro was brought back into work ahead of Olympia and is now looking ‘fitter and slimmer’, according to Charlotte, with the gelding going on the water treadmill twice a week as part of his fitness regime.
A few days after finishing fourth at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards (SPOTY), Charlotte was glad to be back doing her day job om tje dressage arena. “It was a great honour to be nominated, but coming from the red carpet at SPOTY, and going up in front of 12,000 people and being interviewed on stage was terrifying – being here was a breeze!”
Clear
Dujardin’s score was good enough to put her more than 7% clear of Edward Gal and Glock’s Undercover NOP in second place (80.120%), in an exact replica of last year’s Olympia Grand Prix results.
Edward’s Dutch compatriotDanielleHeijkoop finished third on Siro NOP (77.100%), while Carl Hester and Nip Tuck took fourth with74.680%.
The top 15 from today will compete in tomorrow’s Grand Prix Freestyle.