Charlotte Dujardin & Gio Win British Pair’s Debut Big Tour Grand Prix Special at Heckfield CDI3* for Double Victory

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Charlotte Dujardin on Gio. File photo. © 2021 Petra Kerschbaum/EQWO.net

HECKFIELD, England, May 13, 2021–Charlotte Dujardin and Gio won their debut Big Tour Grand Prix Special Thursday to give the British combination a double victory at the Wellington Riding Club and their fifth straight win in their international career of six starts.

Charlotte and the 10-year-old KWPN gelding scored 81.426% with four of the five judges awarding marks above 80% for the ride in the Special that will be the class to determine team medals at the Tokyo Olympic less than 11 weeks away. The pair captured the Grand Prix Wednesday.

Gareth Hughes and Sintano van Hof Olympia posted a personal best 75.298% for second place in only their second international Grand Prix Special. Emile Faurie on Dono DI Maggio OLD placed third on 75.192%.

Carl Hester, who was second on En Vogue in the Grand Prix, was fourth on 73.596%.

Charlotte and Mount St. John Freestyle on whom she placed second to Gio in Wednesday’s Grand Prix will compete in the Grand Prix Freestyle later Thursday.

Charlotte, Great Britain’s gold medal rider on Valegro at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics acquired Gio after she saw the horse at a master class in Los Angeles six years ago and owns the horse with a New Zealand supporter, Renai Hart, and her coach and mentor, Carl Hester.

Bigwood, an Olympic and World Games team silver medalist for Great Britain, scored 71.043% on Hawtins Delicato to round out the first Big Tour competition for the pair. Fiona took over the ride from Carl Hester who rode the 13-year-old British-bred gelding at the 2019 European Championships and the 2018 Tryon WEG.

Results:

CDI3* Grand Prix Special

Judges: Mariette Sanders van Gansewinkel Maria Colliander Isobel Wessels Susanne Baarup Peter Storr
Place Score Nation Athlete Horse E H C M B
1. 81.426 GBR Charlotte Dujardin Gio 80.213 79.681 82.553 81.383 83.298
2. 75.298 GBR Gareth Hughes Sintano van Hof Olympia 75.426 72.553 76.702 75.851 75.957
3. 75.192 GBR Emile Faurie Dono DI Maggio OLD 76.702 75 76.277 74.681 73.298
4. 73.596 GBR Carl Hester En Vogue 72.021 71.915 75.213 73.936 74.894
5. 73.447 GBR Sonnar Murray Brown Erlentanz TSF 72.872 72.66 74.468 70.745 76.489
6. 71.043 GBR Fiona Bigwood Hawtins Delicato 71.915 68.936 72.021 71.809 70.532
7. 70.596 IRL Heike Holstein Sambuca 70.319 69.894 71.17 71.17 70.426
8. 69.404 IRL Kate Dwyer Snowdon Faberge 68.723 69.043 70.957 70 68.298
9. 69.255 GBR Amy Jean Woodhead Mount St John Kom Fairytale 67.128 68.404 69.894 68.617 72.234
10. 68.979 IRL Alex Baker Dutchman 68.511 68.404 69.574 67.979 70.426
11. 68.894 GBR Emma Hindle Diesel 8 68.936 67.553 69.149 69.149 69.681
12. 68.234 FIN Mikaela Soratie Hot Casanova 67.766 67.979 69.043 68.723 67.66
13. 67.447 GBR Laura Tomlinson Fallatijn 67.66 66.064 69.894 66.809 66.809
14. 66.405 GBR Daniel Watson Butterfly IV 65.213 67.128 67.128 67.128 65.426
15. 65.532 GBR Rebecca Caroline Hughes Rubini Royale 66.596 65.106 64.787 66.489 64.681