“I can’t help but smile when I ride Valegro. I think something and he just does it. I laugh and think, ‘Well, how does he know? I didn’t even ask, I just thought it!”.
Charlotte Dujardin had the highest of expectations on her, riding out for Great Britain in the second day of the dressage Grand Prix at Rio today, and she lived up to every one of them. She and the remarkable Valegro, defending Olympic champions, danced their way to 85.071%, effortlessly ahead of the rest of the field, though the Germans look to have a stanglehold on the team gold.
There’s no doubt that Charlotte is a sublime rider, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about her is mental game; she has a total lack of nerves.
“I think for me, going in there today was all about going in and enjoying it,” she says. “That was the biggest thing. I watched a lot of people yesterday, and they looked very white and nervous. I thought, for me, I’ve got to go in there, it is my absolute passion, I have the horse of my life, I’ve got the top trainer, I’ve got everything around me, I’ve got huge support, the team is fantastic. We have amazing arenas, we’ve got everything. I’ve got to go out there and enjoy it. I can honestly say that I came out with a huge smile on my face. I was smiling out there before I even went in there.”
But it would have to take something pretty spectacular to happen in tomorrow’s Grand Prix Special, which decides the team medals, for Great Britain to advance to the top step of the podium, even if Charlotte can set a new record score.
For three of the top places below her are the Germans, with Kristina Broring-Sprehe on Desperados second on 82.257%, Dorothee Schneider on Showtime FRH third on 80.986%, and Isabell Werth on Weihegold OLD fourth on 80.643.
This puts the German team on an average (top three riders) of 81.295, with Great Britain on 79.252, and the USA pushing the Netherlands off the podium by a mere fraction – they are 0.928 ahead. Sweden is sitting fifth and Denmark sixth.
The USA’s strong performance was headed by Laura Graves and Verdades, who scored 78.071%, and Steffen Peters who was not far behind, 77.614% with Legolas.
The second-best Brit was Fiona Bigwood, who rode so well on the first day to score 77.157% with Orthilia, while Carl Hester had to contend with a spooky Nip Tuck but still managed 75.529%.
“He is probably the biggest horse here, but he has the heart of a mouse!” said Carl, who is also team coach. “He is good with noise but very visual. It was probably something ridiculous that spooked him, like a flower moving in a pot – maybe he needs glasses! He went fantastic all week and we had 10 minutes in the arena this morning and he was totally relaxed. He had me completely fooled, I didn’t expect this and I’m gutted!”
You can’t help but be in awe of the Germans, whose domination of the sport – after a couple of years when it looked like the Dutch and then the Brits had overtaken their mantle – has resurged to the point that their discard score (Sonke Rothenberger) is 77.329%, higher than any of the Dutch riders and all but one of the Brits.
“If there is no drama, which we all know can happen, we will hopefully take home the gold!” said five-time Olympic gold medallist Isabell Werth, who helped anchor the German total with a great test from the mare Weihegold, and is set to become the most decorated equestrian in history.
Only the top six teams from the Grand Prix go through to tomorrow’s Grand Prix Special team medal decider, so Spain, France, Australia, Brazil and Japan have now slipped out of contention.
Unfortunately, our own Julie Brougham has also slipped out of contention, her score not being enough to qualify for the Special. The lowest qualifying score was 71.5%, so it really was a big ask.
Still, Julie and Vom Feinsten have grown considerably from their European and Olympic experience, and gave us all at home some wonderful moments to admire. Julie’s inspirational story caught the attention of a lot of the world’s media, and as she’s not ready to hang up her spurs just yet, a World Equestrian Games campaign surely looks the next stage in her journey.
