Lottie Fry secures spot in the Tokyo 2020 individual dressage final

Lottie Fry and Everdale top their group and earn their place in the individual dressage final © BEF / Jon Stroud Media

Lottie Fry shows she means business on day one of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games – while nail-biting qualifier forces Carl Hester to wait to learn of his individual final fate.

After the conclusion of today’s (24 July) action, Lottie Fry has secured her place in Wednesday’s (28 July) individual final, where she’ll be given the chance to fight for an Olympic medal and her place on the podium. Meanwhile, Carl Hester will need to wait until the conclusion of tomorrow’s (25 July) competition to find out if he’s done enough to earn one of six remaining qualifying positions.

Youngest of the British riders, 25-year-old Lottie Fry was the first to go for Team GB, riding the 12-year-old Everdale, owned by herself and Van Olst Horses. The spicy stallion made his presence known and was soon showcasing the swagger and high-stepping action fans have come to expect from him. Lottie’s poise combined with Everdale’s extravagant movement – which would’ve signalled clearly to horsey and non-horsey viewers alike that this partnership’s certainly one to watch this week – was rewarded with a Grand Prix personal best of 77.096%, which sent the pair soaring to the top of Group A’s table and temporarily in the lead, in qualifying position ahead of Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen riding Dante Weltino OLD on 75.140%.

The pair’s overall lead was interrupted by Group B’s Edward Gal and Total US, who scored 78.649% to ultimately take the second qualifying spot in the group, behind Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour riding Bohemian in first place on 81.056%.

After a beautifully flowing test that was unfortunately punctuated by a few unsettled moments for Carl Hester and En Vogue – who’s owned by Carl, Charlotte Dujardin, Lady Anne Evans and Sandra Biddlecombe – it was a tense wait to see if the combination’s 75.497% would be enough to see them safely into Group C’s top two and through to the individual final. The Jazz gelding isn’t the most experienced at this level, and perhaps let the atmosphere get the better of him with a slight mishap through the changes.

In a highly competitive group and with a handful of strong entries still to come, this proved costly and allowed Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera to take the top spot with 84.379% (the highest score of the competition so far), while USA’s Sabine Schut-Kery rode Sanceo to a score of 78.416% and moved into second.

Despite missing out on guaranteed qualification at the present moment, Carl’s score looks like it could be competitive enough to see him through to the individual final as the current second-highest scoring partnership outside of the top two pairings in the groups. However, these qualifying spots won’t be finalised until the conclusion of tomorrow’s (25 July) individual and team qualifier.

What’s going on?

Over the course of the weekend (24–25 July), 60 horse and rider combinations will take to the stage to perform a Grand Prix test and ultimately compete for a place in the team and individual finals (Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 July, respectively). Pairings are split into six groups (three groups to ride per day), decided according to world rankings. To get to the…

• individual final, combinations will need to finish in the top two from their group OR be one of the six athletes with the next highest scores across all groups
• team final, combinations will need to finish as one of the eight best nations based on their combined Grand Prix scores

Those through to the individual final so far are as follows…

1. Great Britain’s Lottie Fry and Everdale
2. Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen and Dante Weltino OLD
3. Denmark’s Cathrine Dufour and Bohemian
4. Netherlands’ Edward Gal and Total US
5. Germany’s Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera
6. USA’s Sabine Schut-Kery riding Sanceo
7. Group D 1
8. Group D 2
9. Group E 1
10. Group E 2
11. Group F 1
12. Group F 2
13. Next highest scoring rider 1
14. Next highest scoring rider 2
15. Next highest scoring rider 3
16. Next highest scoring rider 4
17. Next highest scoring rider 5
18. Next highest scoring rider 6

The combinations looking most promising to secure some of the final six individual qualifying spots include…

• Netherlands’ Hans Peter Minderhous riding Dream Boy – 76.817%
• Great Britain’s Carl Hester and En Vogue – 75.124%
• Denmark’s Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Zack – 73.168%

With a day’s competition still to come, the team standings are currently as follows…

1. Netherlands
2. Denmark
3. Great Britain
4. Sweden
5. Portugal
6. Spain
7. Russian Olympic Committee
8. Germany
9. USA
10. France
11. Canada
12. Australia
13. Belgium
14. Japan