Charlotte Dujardin's Olympic Ride Gio Sold to Annabella Pidgley

Dressage

Great Britain

Charlotte Dujardin announced on her social media channels that she has parted ways with her 2021 Olympic ride Gio. He has been sold to British junior rider Annabella Pidgley.

Gio is a 10-year old KWPN gelding by Apache out of Zenzi (by Tango x Fair Play). He is bred by H. de Jong in The Netherlands and Dujardin owned him in partnership with New Zealand Renai Hart

Toretto

Gio was discovered by French-Croatian rider Amelie Kovac, who after training in The Netherlands with Adelinde Cornelissen and Emmelie Scholtens, moved to California to become an assistant rider at Jan Ebeling's yard in 2012.

In 2014 she discovered Gio as an unbroken 3-year old at Ad Valk's yard after getting tipped by Scholtens. She imported him to California and renamed him Toretto after a character from her favourite movie "The Fast and The Furious."

Dujardin discovered Gio at a clinic at El Campeon Farms in California in October 2016, where she convinced the owner to sell it to her. The small chestnut gelding moved to the U.K. to Carl Hester's Oakelbrook Mill where Dujardin trained him to Grand Prix Level

Almost 80% on GP Debut

Riding on her wave of success with Valegro and Mount St. John Freestyle, Dujardin is virtually unbeatable at national level in Britain with any horse. The same goes for Gio.

The pair won the 2019 British Championships at Intermediaire II level and four months later she showcased Gio in full Grand Prix mode at a clinic at the 2019 CDI-W London Olympia Horse Show.

They made their national GP debut in Addington on 11 January 2020, where they scored 79.56% in a class with three judges.

Corona CDI Debut

Their international show debut was scheduled for the CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch in March 2020 and the horse had travelled there, but that weekend the first corona lockdown in Europe started and all competitions were cancelled until May.

Their first CDI outing was postponed until October 2020 at Keysoe, where they were second in the Grand Prix with 79.34!% and won the Kur with 83.3690%

Olympic Choice

Dujardin and Gio at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo

In the 2021 Olympic year, Dujardin rode the CDI's in Hagen and Wellington Heckfield to clinch her official minimum eligibility requirement for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. She won all four classes with GP scores between 78 and 79%.

Dujardin dropped a bombshell when she announced that Gio was her choice of horse for the Olympics and not the higher scoring Mount St. John Freestyle. A day after her announcement, owner Emma Blundell explained that Freestyle was not fit to compete.

In Tokyo, Dujardin presented Gio in the best form seen all season with more length in the neck and frame. The passage showed improved balance, but the piaffes were still difficult as he crosses the legs. In the extended trot the horse gets hasty. Albeit, Charlotte had Gio at peak performance and clinched team and individual bronze.

Six weeks later at the European Championships in Hagen, the 10-year old could not reproduce the same form and energy, but that was hardly reflected in the scores of the judges as he produced further top 79% marks in the GP and Special. Always eager to work and please, Gio gave it his all but looked tired. Great Britain scored team silver, in the Special they were fourth, but in the Kur they got bronze when Isabell Werth and Weihegold did not live up to their usual form.

Sold to Annabella Pidgley

With a barn full of up and coming horses, Dujardin has her future secured. She and co-owner Renai Hart, therefore, decided that the timing was right to sell Gio.

Charlotte and Annabella with Gio at Hester's yard

"In order to maintain a position in sport, especially in high level sport, at times, these difficult decisions need to be made," Dujardin stated. "I am so thankful that I do not have to do this regularly, as it is always such a hard thing to let go of animals that we see as our family."

The buyer is British junior rider Annabella Pidgley, who won double silver at the 2021 European Junior Riders Championships.

Daughter to the late Tony Pidgley, the founder and chairman of the British house building Berkeley Group, Annabella has an impressive string of horses lined up for her future in dressage sport. Annabella has her number one, Sultans des Paluds, alongside Dibert L, Belafonte and Hilus MBH, while her trainer Cathrine Dufour is developing Vamos Amigos and Espe for her.

"To say this is a huge privilege for me is an understatement, and I know this is such an honour for me to take the reins of such an iconic little horse," said Pidgley. "I have really fallen for this special horse and look forward to campaigning him in the years to come."

Annabella will be riding Gio under the supervision of both Dufour and Charlotte Dujardin.

"Annabella is one of the most promising riders in our country, and works so hard to develop herself and her horses, whilst giving them nothing but five star care," said Charlotte. "I will train the pairing, so I am delighted that our precious Pumpkin will stay in my life and I will still see him on a regular basis."

Future for Dujardin

Dujardin has named the 8-year old KWPN gelding Imhotep (by Everdale x Vivaldi x Sandro Hit), which Carl Hester owns in partnership with Coral Ingham, as her next future Grand Prix star and Paris hopeful. This year they swepts the 2021 British Small Tour Championships.

Dujardin broke her silence about her plans with Mouth St. John Freestyle in September, stating that she aims to ride Emma Blundell's mare in the World Cup series "next year".

The 2021-2021 Western European League World Cup series kicked off last weekend in Herning (DEN) and moves to Lyon (FRA) this weekend. The next leg will be in London at the Olympia Horse Show (this year at Excel). The first CDI-W of the new year will be Amsterdam in January.