Charlotte Dujardin & Valegro Confirmed as 1st from Great Britain to be World No. 1

Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and the 10-year-old Dutch warmblood gelding Valegro, double Olympic gold medalists at London, were confirmed Thursday as taking over as No. 1 in the FEI World Individual Dressage Rankings, the first British combination ever to reach the top of the leaderboard.

With 2,867 points, the combination moved up from second place to claim the top spot, seven points clear of former world number one and London silver medalists Adelinde Cornelissen of the Netherlands and Jerich Parzival in the rankings to the end of August. The Dutch pair had led the rankings since July, 2011.

Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW were the highest-placed of the five German combinations in the top 10 with 2,626 points for third place and Great Britain’s London bronze medalists Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris in fourth with 2,591 points.

The top rankings were first reported by dressage-news.com on Sept. 1, based on calculating the FEI results formula.

The British combination moved up from fourth to second in the rankings to the end of July, and their Olympic performances with first place individually in the Grand Prix, the Special and the Freestyle boosted them to the top of the rankings at the end of August.

The 27-year-old Charlotte and Valegro led the British to historic Olympic team gold with commbined results of the Grand Prix and the Special at London’s Greenwich Park arena and then performed the Freestyle for a winning mark of 90.089 per cent. Dujardin, who competed in her first Grand Prix only last year, has been teamed up with Valegro since she joined teammate Carl Hester at his stables in Gloucestershire, England, in 2007.

“It is fantastic to see Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro leading the Dressage Rankings after their incredible performance in Greenwich Park,” said Trond Asmyr, FEI Director of Dressage.

“The pair have been key to helping Great Britain re-write dressage history and have highlighted the fact that the sport is in an exciting period of change, with lots of new faces now in the mix.

“Charlotte’s natural talent and her partnership with the hugely successful Carl Hester mean that she is a valuable driving force for future generations of dressage riders.”

Biggest movers in the latest FEI World Individual Dressage Rankings were Steffen Peters and Ravel of the United States, who moved up to 16th from 192nd and the Netherlands’ Edward Gal and Glock’s Undercover up to 17th 198th place.

The latest top 20 in the FEI World Individual Dressage Rankings: