Day three at the 2015 British Dressage Championships at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire gave the crowds a roller coaster ride between some of the country’s best young small tour horses and Charlotte Dujardin add two titles to her impressive tally, including her first ever British Grand Prix Champion's title achieved on Saturday 19 September 2015.
Becky Moody and Carinsio Win Intermediate I Freestyle
Saturday’s final act, the Intermediate I Freestyle, kept the crowds on the edge of their seats right up until final moments, with the commentators added to the suspense by keeping silent.
Charlie Hutton and the uber talented Super Blue, owned by Judy Peploe set the early pace with a typically upbeat routine to score 74.38%. Others came close but it wasn’t until Becky Moody’s second ride that things changed. The cheeky yet tricky rosette machine Carinsio, by Painted Black, certainly had his dancing shoes on. Riding to their BBC television show inspired programme score, the duo had a fairly mistake free round, only really showing tension in the walk and the judges clearly loved it to reward them with a long awaited 80.5% - all season it’s been Becky’s aim to break the magic barrier and has come so close on a few occasions.
Next was Alice Oppenheimer and Georgina Pole-Carew’s Sir Donnerhall gelding Tantoni Sir Soccrates, who has attracted a lot of interest over the show. Heading to the Championships, the chestnut had to be one of the most consistent small tour horses on the circuit and his Fairfax PSG win showed the talent. Alice always pulls out the stops in the freestyle and they looked good enough to edge near Becky’s score but a finally tally of 76.88 from the five judges wasn’t enough to topple the duo from Yorkshire.
Our defending Champion, Spencer Wilton, then came forward with the leggy Zamboucca, by Stedinger, and they were picture of elegance but hit a few minor mistakes to post 74.48%. The penultimate combination was Maria Eilberg and Royal Concert, owned by Penny Pollard and Hermione Black. ‘Rico’ was brimming with confidence and proved quite a handful for Maria but she expertly guided him and finished with a spectacular medium trot final centre line. They marginally outscored Spencer but 74.48% wasn’t enough to take the lead.
The final combination was yesterday’s winners, Michael Eilberg and father Ferdi and Alison Walton’s Woodlander Farouche. Michael had been excused from the parade of champions to enable him ample time to warm the ballerina-like chestnut up and it was a wise move. He’d clearly got the timings right as he started with two diagonal lines of extended trot which left the crowd gasping and the judges uttering ‘ten’ to their writers. It wasn’t a mistake free performance again with some confusion and nervousness creeping in but was it enough to win? Something of a rivalry has developed between Carinsio and Farouche – not quite on the scale of Valegro and Totilas but they’ve come head to head a number of times. 78.62% was the score, not quite enough for the freestyle win, but just enough, 0.69% to be exact, to take the overall supreme title.
It was a more positive Michael who spoke to the media today following his supreme title; “She felt good today. The extensions were great today, her half passes felt super, walk was good and her extended canter was great. The pirouettes and changes will still m downfall so we’ll be working on those at home! We know she can get a ten for her extended work every day but I need work on getting the lightness and collection to get tens in the other stuff too. I feel she’ll settle more as we move on towards to grand prix; we need to build her confidence and understanding of it all. Inter I is a stepping stone towards grand prix and it’s where she’s getting a little tense; when she’s not quite sure. She’s felt a little overwhelmed with the work she’s been doing at home and come here and been a little bit anxious but today there were glimpses of what’s to come. The music is perfect for her footfall and elegance but shows her power.”
Freestyle Champion Becky said afterwards; “A double whammy for us today – that magic 80% and I finally managed to beat Farouche! I was chuffed to bits with him; it was a good ride. The walk is still his ‘thing’, especially in this atmosphere; it was ‘correct’ but he was still on edge. The rest of it he just felt super rideable and I hit my music bang on. He felt the most settled he’s ever been here today – almost like what I get at home. Yesterday was my errors and I was a little disappointed but I did a better job today. He’s only eight so for now we’ll stick to small tour although we’ve been playing at some grand prix work at home. I want a horse that’s still sound and enjoying it when he’s 16 so I’m not going to push him.”
Dujardin Wins the Grand Prix
She’s won grand prix classes all over the world, however today marked Charlotte Dujardin’s first ever national grand prix title. Riding Carl Hester and Anne Cohn’s nine-year-old German-bred gelding, Barolo (by Breitling), Charlotte secured victory in the Grand Prix after scoring an impressive 72.90%.
Stealing the title from Spencer Wilton, the longtime leader with Numberto (71.66%) and with the test just the horse’s third grand prix, it was safe to say Charlotte was over the moon with the result: I was really happy with him,” exclaimed Charlotte. “I mean he’s only nine years old and still really green, with this being just his third ever grand prix – so I couldn’t be more pleased.
Carl always says ‘[the nationals] is my mini Olympics’, so I’ve never actually got to compete here at grand prix before because I was banned,” laughed Charlotte. “Tomorrow will be really interesting because he’s never actually done a freestyle in his entire life and lucky old me has to try and get him round, so it’s going to be exciting either way!”
Tomorrow’s crowd will be in for a treat as the pair will be riding to Valegro’s old freestyle music: “I know this music inside out, so I thought it would be the safest option. Plus, I love it and I hope Barolo will too”.
Photo © Kevin Sparrow
Related Links
Saturday Scores of the 2015 British Dressage Championships
Eilberg and Farouche Win on Day Two of 2015 British Dressage Championships
Oppenheimer and Eilberg Win First Titles on Day One of 2015 British Dressage Championships