Charlotte Dujardin won the Future Elite dressage championship at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) for the third year running last night (Thursday, 4 October).
Charlotte piloted the eight-year-old Vivaldi daughter Florentina to score 79.12% for their inter I freestyle, just three weeks after she secured the national inter I title with the grey mare at the National Dressage Championships, and less than a month after winning double bronze at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon with Mount St John Freestyle.
“This was Florentina’s first real big indoor show, so she has never really been in an atmosphere like this and I wasn’t sure how she was going to cope with it, but she felt really good,” said Charlotte, who first took this title in 2016 with Carl Hester’s WEG ride Hawtins Delicato, and again in 2017 riding Freestyle.
“It’s great to bring horses like her here and get them used to this environment and atmosphere. It’s such a great experience for her.”
Nicola Buchanan finished second to Charlotte riding the nine-year-old gelding Half Moon Dark Magic. Their score of 75.04% was a personal best for the pair, who were winners of the inter I at Hickstead CDI3* in July.
Becky Moody completed the top three with Jo Cooper’s nine-year-old Eureko, posting 74.7% to finish fractionally ahead of WEG bronze medallist Emile Faurie, who was riding the upcoming mare Cafe’s Caletta.
The HOYS Future Elite championship, now in its sixth year, is aimed at horses aged between eight and 10 years old.
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Four of the eight participants qualify based on average scores from prix st georges and inter I classes at Premier League, High Profile and British CDIs throughout the year. Four more combinations are then invited by HOYS and British Dressage’s senior selection committee to compete.
Don’t miss the 11 October issue of H&H for the full report from HOYS
