Dressage-News

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro on Tuesday set a new world record of 93.975 per cent for the Grand Prix Freestyle and now hold all three Grand Prix world records.

The world’s No. 1 combination and double Olympic gold medalist partnership for Great Britain set a new mark of 93.975 per cent for the Freestyle to the same British patriotic themed music the pair rode to at the London Games. The pair aleady held the records of 85.942 per cent for the Grand Prix and 88.022 per cent for the Grand Prix Special.

Tuesday night’s Freestyle result broke the previous record of 92.300 per cent set by Edward Gal and Totilas at this same show on Dec. 16, 2009, exactly four years and one day ago.

The previous personal best for the British combination was 91.250 per cent at the European Championships in Herning, Denmark Aug. 24, 2013. The latest score was the fourth Freestyle the pair had broken the 90 per cent barrier since their first such achievement on July 7, 2012.

The new record was set in the 18th straight victory for the 28-year-old rider and Valegro that included individual gold at the European Championships in summer as well as last year’s historic Olympic gold medals. The last time the pair did not finish first was at West Palm Beach in Florida in January, 2012. The string of victories for Valegro outpaced that of Edward and Totilas, which twice had runs of 11 straight wins.

Charlotte and Valegro and Edward and Totilas are the only two combinations in history to break the 90 per cent ceiling–the British pair doing it four times and the Dutch duo five times. The next closest, Germany’s Helen Langehanenberg and Damon Hill NRW with 89.775 per cent at Stuttgart last month and the Netherlands’ Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival on 89.375 per cent at Lyon, France in November, 2012.

The World Cup event at Olympia in which Charlotte and the 11-year-old KWPN gelding (Negro x Gerschwin) were competing was their third straight–the pair won the Freestyle in 2012.

Complete story later

Results of the Grand Prix Freestyle:

1.	Valegro	Du Jardin,Charlotte	GBR		93.975 points
2.	Glock’s Undercover	Gal,Edward	NED		87.425 points
3.	Kingsley Siro	Heijkoop,Danielle	NED		80.625 points
4.	Half Moon Delphi	Eilberg,Michael	GBR		78.525 points
5.	Glock’s Romanov	Minderhoud,Hans Peter	NED		77.675 points
6.	Digby	Sayn-Wittgenstein,Nathalie zu	DEN		76.900 points
7.	Noble Dream Concept Sol	Boblet,Marc	FRA		76.350 points
8.	Axis TSF	Stegars,Terhi	FIN		75.750 points
9.	Andretti H	Griffith,Lara	GBR		74.425 points
10.	Wie-Atlantico de Ymas	Dahl,Anders	DEN		73.175 points
11.	Fine Time	Hester,Carl	GBR		73.050 points
12.	Sandro Boy	Oatley,Lyndal	AUS		71.700 points
13.	Jaybee Alabaster	Beresford,Hayley	AUS		71.650 points
14.	Vradin	Missiaen,Simon	BEL		70.775 points
15.	Topolino	Faurie,Emile	GBR		67.975 points