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Lottie Fry and Glamourdale become the Individual World Dressage Champions © British Equestrian / Jon Stroud
There was elation at the Dressage World Championships as Lottie Fry won gold with Glamourdale after a mesmerising test and three Brits qualified for the Grand Prix Freestyle
After a well-deserved team silver medal for Team GB yesterday (Sunday 7 Augusr) all eyes were on the British riders to see if their world dressage championship dream could continue, and they did not disappoint. It was Lottie Fry who finished top of the leaderboard with a score of 82.508% with Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep in sixth on 77.523% and Gareth Hughes in seventh on 77.280%.
Lottie Fry’s test was a masterclass and a personal best for the pair in the Grand Prix Special, they scored almost a full house of 10s for Glamourdale’s extended canter and a host of top marks for their other movements.
“This is an incredible feeling I literally have no words right now,” Lottie said, after being crowned world champion. “I’m probably going to burst into tears any minute it’s just unreal!
“Glamourdale gave me everything, it was the most incredible test I’ve ever ridden – he’s one in a million. The feeling that he gives when he goes in the arena is like no other. He’s just such a massive showman,” she continued. “The changes were bigger than yesterday, the pirouettes were better than yesterday, the piaffes were better than yesterday, he was just ready for it today.”
Glamourdale was Lottie’s winning horse at the FEI Young Horse World Championship in 2018, making their long-anticipated win together at senior level taste that bit sweeter. Speaking about Glamourdale after the competition, Lottie added: “The sky’s the limit for him.”
And certainly, the dressage world will be watching what this pair do next.
Sitting in seventh amidst a very tight leader board is Gareth Hughes, the first of the British riders to go. He put in a marvellous test, which did put them in a provisional lead at the time. A particular highlight was the pirouettes with judges awarding them 9s and 10s across the board, Gareth commented: “We like our pirouttes! We don’t do a lot of them, but she’s just got better and better.”
The pair scored 77.280% – an improvement on their score from the team competition on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to put them in the medals. Gareth explained: “Today she felt really calm and relaxed, and I was able to ride her a lot more positively.
“I feel like I can ride her nicely. I feel like that’s important these days because even though I want to do as well as we can, I think that nice riding should always be in the forefront of our minds,” Gareth continued, “so if I come out and feel like I’ve ridden nice, we’ve done a mistake-free test and I’m happy with my horse then where we finish doesn’t matter.”
Charlotte Dujardin kept her cool on a rather exuberant Imhotep during their test to finish just ahead of her teammate in sixth. Speaking after her test, Charlotte said: “It’s full power, full speed around every corner at 100mph!”
However, despite his lack of experience, Imhotep certainly gave Charlotte a lot to be proud of and they’ll be a pair to look out for in the future.
“He’s so green I’m just trying to give him confidence to be honest,” she continued. “I’m trying to keep everything as neat and as tidy as I can to help him, but he seems to want to do everything massive and out of control at the moment. But I love that and that shows how brilliant he is and for me it makes it so much fun.”
Imhotep is still young and one to watch for the future. Carl Hester, one of Imhotep’s owners, said: “He could be the best horse we’ve ever had.” Coming from the owner of Valegro, this is high praise indeed.
Final placings and what’s next?
Next up on 10 August is the Grand Prix Freestyle to Music, which the top 15 from the Grand Prix Special have qualified for – this includes all three of today’s British riders. Full results from today’s competition are as follows…
- Great Britain’s Lottie Fry and Glamourdale – 82.508%
- Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos – 81.322%
- Netherlands’ Dinja van Liere and Hermes – 79.407%
- Germany’s Isabell Werth and DSP Quantaz – 79.073%
- Germany’s Benjamin Werndl and Famoso OLD – 78.237%
- Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Imhotep – 77.523%
- Great Britain’s Gareth Hughes and Classic Briolinca – 77.280%
- Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Marshall-Bell – 76.520%
- USA’s Adrienne Lyle and Salvino – 75.699%
- Sweden’s Patrik Kittel and Touchdown – 75.486%
- Sweden’s Juliette Ramel and Buriel K.H. – 75.456%
- Denmark’s Carina Cassøe Krüth and Heiline’s Danciera – 75.426%
- Sweden’s Therese Nilshagen and Dante Weltino OLD – 74.848%
- Netherlands’ Emmelie Scholtens and Indian Rock – 74.164%
- Spain’s Alejandro Sánchez del Barco and Quincallo de Indalo – 74.073%
