Charlotte and Valegro return with bang and a world record

The pair gained a score of 84.447% which beat their Olympic score of 83.66% and the previous World record of 84.08%, set by Edward Gal and Totilas at the European Championship at Windsor in 2009. The score also won the class by a margin of 8%.

Valegro stormed through the test with ease and never put a foot wrong. “He feels better than ever and I am sure has come back stronger,” said Charlotte who in contrast to her horse is not well. “He has had a great holiday since London and had a very easy time with lots of hacking and I only picked him up to start more serious work about a month ago. However he is a hot horse and I was not sure how he would be and on arrival he certainly felt really jolly which made me wonder but he totally delighted me.”

Isabell Werth (GER) a former winner at Olympia, The London International Horse Show, made a welcome return to the arena and was second with the Don Frederico 11-year-old, Don Johnson. “I didn’t see Charlotte’s test only the score and thought ‘wow we have to really try our best’,” said Isabell. “Don Johnson has developed a lot in the last few months even and he gave me a great Christmas present tonight.”

Edward Gal (NED) and his Olympic ride Glock’s Undercover took third place just 5.5 marks.

British Olympic team gold medallist Carl Hester had a less easy return to the International arena with Uthopia. The Dutch-bred stallion was unsettled in parts losing rhythm and fluency and the pair had to settle for sixth place.

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