World team silver for Great Britain after a personal best score and flurry of 10s

Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep scored 77.407% to help Britain to a team silver medal © British Equestrian / Jon Stroud

British dressage riders get their World Championships campaign off to a silver medal start as the second day of competition brings with it top marks, a personal best and a team podium placing

With scores of 77.407% and 80.838% respectively, Charlotte Dujardin and Lottie Fry sent the British dressage team shooting up the leaderboard from overnight sixth to silver medal position. Fighting off competition from German, Dutch and Swedish sides, it was only the home nation team, Denmark, who were able to go one better than Brits, while the German team settled for bronze.

First to go for Great Britain were Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep, and they certainly didn’t let the pressure get to them despite ‘Pete’ having so little exposure at this level. The pair’s poised and polished performance was good enough to send them into second individually at that point in the competition and ultimately finished in fourth. In what was only his fourth-ever Grand Prix, Charlotte said she was “absolutely thrilled” with the nine-year-old’s performance.

“He’s a very inexperienced horse. I had no idea how he was going to be in there,” she said. “I’ve done shows at home and one show abroad, which had no real spectators, so for him to go in there and have the crowd and the buzz, I was just so proud of him. I had the one little blip, but it was just a miscommunication more than anything.

“If I’m honest, I think he was a little bit scared in there. I kept having to give him confidence,” she continued. “You could see it with the sneezing, it was a lot for him in there on his own.

“In the last few days he’s been in there with other horses, then all of a sudden that horse left and he was like, ‘Hang on a second I’m going with you!” and I said ‘No no, you’re going this way.’ He kept going and that’s the main thing. I thought I’ve got to give him a nice round.

“I love that horse, he makes me smile from ear to ear every day,” she finished.

Lottie Fry was Britain’s final rider to go riding the gorgeous Glamourdale, and the pair’s score of 80.838% – a personal best for the combination at this level – made Britain the new team to beat. At the conclusion of her test, this put Lottie and Glamourdale into pole position provisionally and it was only Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos who’d be able to knock her off the top spot in the end. This was Lottie’s very first World Championships, but having scored an individual bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 with Everdale, Lottie’s phenomenal ability and professionalism means there’s never been a question mark over her place in the team despite her comparative lack of experience.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in, I’m a little bit numb,” Lottie said following her personal best score. “From the second we left the warm-up, he heard the crowds and was ready for it.”

The 11-year-old Dutch-bred stallion by Lord Everdale needed to pull off a test in the high-seventies to ensure the team would remain in medal contention and Lottie’s percentage never dropped below 80 on her trending score throughout. Her test began with 9s across the board for much of the early work and the nines really didn’t stop coming from start to finish.

“He’s been such a pro,” she added, explaining that this is the furthest the stallion has ever travelled but he’s taken the whole experience so far in his stride and that he “felt incredible”.

Highlights of the test included expressive but relaxed two-time changes, for which she was awarded three tens, while the one-time changes earned the pair nines. The showstopper, however, came when Glamourdale’s enormous ground-covering capabilities were showcased to their very finest in the extended work for which the partnership was rewarded with almost a full complement of tens – with just one out of the seven judges awarding a nine. Despite an uncharacteristic glitch in the pirouette, which saw Glamourdale experience a brief loss of jump and balance, it was an overall very impressive test that bodes well for the dynamic duo for the rest of the week.

Glamourdale’s reputation certainly precedes him and he’s one of the most exciting horses to watch in this year’s competition, but 26-year-old Lottie certainly doesn’t seem to let the pressure get to her – in fact, quite the opposite. “It really drives me to do better,” she comments, adding that she hopes to polish her pirouettes for tomorrow’s competition in a bid to earn the extra few marks the pair deserves.

“Everyone knows he’s amazing”, she finishes. “Hopefully he loves me as much as I love him!”

With Charlotte and Lottie having done all they could to make Britain the team to beat, in the end it was only Denmark, competing on home soil, who could answer the British dressage team’s call.

Final placings

The final scores for each team were calculated on the highest three percentages. As well as fighting for a Team medal, the top six teams are granted Paris 2024 qualification, and the placings were as follows…

1. Denmark – 235.451
2. Great Britain – 234.223
3. Germany – 230.791
4. Sweden – 227.142
5. Netherlands – 225.621
6. USA – 220.000
7. Spain – 215.808
8. Australia – 215.326
9. Austria – 212.344
10. Portugal – 210.979
11. Finland – 210.606
12. France – 210.605
13. Belgium – 209.301
14. Switzerland – 207.019
15. Japan – 201.755
16. Ireland – 201.723
17. Norway – 201.708
18. Poland – 193.587
19. New Zealand – eliminated

What’s next?

The top 30 riders have now qualified to go through to tomorrow’s (Monday 8 August) Grand Prix Special. They will be…

1. Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos
2. Great Britain’s Lottie Fry and Glamourdale
3. Netherlands’ Dinja van Liera and Hermes
4. Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep
5. Germany’s Isabell Werth and DSP Quantaz
6. Germany’s Benjamin Werndl and Famoso OLD
7. Denmark’s Carina Cassøe Krüth and Heiline’s Danciera
8. Denmark’s Nanna Merrald Rasmussen and Blue Hors Zack
9. Germany’s Frederic Wandres and Duke of Britain FRH
10. Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Marshall-Bell
11. Sweden’s Patrik Kittel and Touchdown
12. Sweden’s Juliette Ramel and Buriel K.H.
13. Great Britain’s Gareth Hughes and Classic Briolinca
14. Germany’s Ingrid Klimke and Franziskus
15. USA’s Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper
16. Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen and Dante Weltino OLD
17. Netherlands’ Emmelie Scholtens and Indian Rock
18. USA’s Adrienne Lyle and Salvino
19. Australia’s Simone Pearce and Fiderdance
20. Austria’s Florian Bacher and Fidertraum OLD
21. Luxembourg’s Nicolas Wagner Ehlinger and Quarter Back Junior FRH
22. Finland’s Emma Kanerva and Greek Air
23. Spain’s Alejandro Sánchez del Barco and Quincallo de Indalo
24. Netherlands’ Thamer Zweistra and Hexagon’s Ich Weiss
25. Australia’s Lyndal Oatley and Eros
26. Brazil’s João Victor Marcari Oliva and Escorial Horsecampline
27. Spain’s José Antonio Garcia Mena and Divina Royal
28. Portugal’s João Pedro Moreira and Zonik Hit
29. Belgium’s Larissa Pauluis and First-Step Valentin
30. Spain’s Jose Daniel Martin Dockx and Malagueno LXXXIII