Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

CAEN, France, Aug. 27, 2014–Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin, the world’s No. 1 dressage partnership, claimed the World Equestrian Games Grand Prix special gold medal Wednesday with Damon Hill NRW ridden by Helen Langehanenberg taking the silver and fellow German Olympians Desperados ridden by Kristina Sprehe capturing bronze.

Great Britain’s double Olympic gold medal pair scored 86.120 per cent, falling short of their world record of 88.022 per cent that Charlotte said she was aiming to break.

The result for Helen and Damon Hill NRW was 84.468 per cent, while Kritsina and Desperados FRH were on 79.762 per cent, a result that produced a medal and was so surprising that between grins she had difficulty overcoming her emotions.

Laura Graves of the United States on Verdades electrified the stadium crowd of about 15,000 spectators with a ride that scored 77.157 per cent for eighth place behind seven combinations ranked in the top 20 in the world. She also finished ahead of U.S. champion Steffen Peters on Legolas for the first time–he placed 10th on 75.742 per cent.

The Grand Prix Special individual medals–the Freestyle also earns medals and is scheduled for Friday–comes a day after Germany won the Nations Cup in dominating style, with Britain second and the Netherlands third.

Without the pressure of the team to think about, the 29-year-old Charlotte said she decided “to got for it.”

“With big risks can come big mistakes,” she said. “Before the piaffe he had to go to the toilet, that was not his fault. The mistake in the two- tempis was my fault, I made the changes too big… I wanted to use the whole diagonal, and suddenly the wall was right in front of me and I was worried I wouldn’t fit them in, the moment I thought that he made the mistake.

“Every time I made a mistake today I felt I could ask a little bit more in the next movement to try to make it up. He tried every time I asked.

“Today he was like driving a Ferrari, when you put your foot down it just goes, he felt the best ever.

“I went out today to go for a world record, I thought we could do it, he felt that amazing so that was my aim.”

The WEG came a month after a sub-par performance at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany where Valegro was on pupose not at full fitness because she wanted him to peak here. The weather was unusually hot in Aachen and Charlotte believed she could have got away with lack of fitness in normal temperatures.

“I have a personal trainer I am now working four to five times a week with her concentrating on core strength and cardio,” she said. “I, myself, was so caught out with the heat at Aachen and didn’t want to take a chance of it happening here.

“At want point do I stop pushing for more? He never says no so it would be easy to get greedy. We keep it easy at home and I only go for it when he feels like today. This was probably one of the best rides I’ve ever had on him.”

By the way, the little bear she carried is the team mascot named Freddy, previously called Norman.

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