Great Britain’s Short List For Tryon World Equestrian Games Team Named, Mostly Olympic/Championship Riders, Rookie Horses

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Charlotte Dujardin and Mount St. John Freestyle. © 2018 Events Through A Lens

Aug. 3, 2018

Great Britain announced Friday the short list for its team for the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina less than six weeks away, made up mostly of Olympic or championship medal riders on mostly rookie championship horses.

Among them is Charlotte Dujardin on Mount St. John Freestyle, newly ranked No. 10 in the world and two years after the last competition for Valegro at the 2016 Olympics, along with 2016 Olympic team mates Carl Hester and Spencer Wilton.

The horses and riders on the long list with the team to be announced by the time the first horses leave Europe for the WEG the first week of September:

Lara Butler, 29, and Rubin al Asad, 16-year-old Hanoverian gelding;

Charlotte Dujardin, 33, and Mount St. John Freestyle, nine-year-old Hanoverian mare;

Emile Faurie, 54, and Delatio, 14-year-old Hanoverian stallion, and Dono di Maggio, 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding;

Carl Hester, 50, and Hawtins Delicato, 10-year-old British-bred Hanoverian gelding

Gareth Hughes, 47, and Don Carissimo, 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding, and Classic Briolinca, 12-year-old KWPN mare, and

Spencer Wilton, 45, and Super Nova II, 15-year-old British-bred Hanoverian gelding.

Charlotte and Carl were together on all six Olympic and championship medals podiums from the 2011 European Championships to the 2016 Olympics.

Charlotte and Freestyle have skyrocketed up the world rankings since beginning Big Tour in April this year, undefeated in eight starts. The pair moved to No. 10 in the world in the latest rankings, the top ranked British combination.

Tryon will be the first international championship for Charlotte since the 2016 Olympics. Charlotte was on the medals podium for every international championship since team gold at the 2011 European Championships and leading her team to the first dressage medal at home in London in 2012 in 100 years of Olympic equestrian sport.

The world record scores posted by Charlotte and Valegro for all three Grand Prix levels still stand.

Carl rode Hawtins Delicato in their first Big Tour event in May and has logged six CDI Grand Prix starts.

Carl, the coach and mentor for Charlotte, has five Olympics on his record. Tryon will be his fourth WEG.

If selected for the team, he may have the distinction of being the only dressage rider at Tryon to have competed in the inaugural combined championships, on Rubelit V. Unkenruf, in Stockholm in 1990.

Spencer Wilton and Super Nova were on Britain’s 2016 Olympic silver medal team and at the 2017 European Championships.

Gareth Hughes was on the silver medal team on DV Stenkjers Nadonna at the 2014 Normandy World Games and the 2013 Europeans.

Emile Faurie rode at the 1992 and 2000 Olympics and the 1998 and 2002 WEGs as well as four European Championships.

Lara Griffith competed on European Championship Junior and Young Rider teams from 2004 through 2009.