Olympic duo both claim wins at Hartpury

Carl Hester Wanadoo. Photo Kevin Sparrow

Carl Hester Wanadoo. Photo Kevin Sparrow

An action packed day two saw Olympic pair Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin begin their Rio warm-up in style at the Hartpury Festival of Dressage.

The duo, who are using the festival as their last event before heading to Brazil, claimed a win each with Carl taking top spot ahead of Charlotte in the Lemieux FEI Grand Prix while Dujardin claimed first place in the Young Horse Prix St. Georges Qualifier.

The morning’s action saw the hotly contested Young Horse Prix St Georges Qualifier in the international Hartpury Arena. With the top eight going through to the British Young Horse Championship at Saturday’s star-studded gala evening, competition was fierce with less than one per cent between the top three.

Charlotte Dujardin on Hawtins Delicato. Photo Kevin Sparrow

Charlotte Dujardin on Hawtins Delicato. Photo Kevin Sparrow

Charlotte Dujardin and Hawtins Delicato took the lead with 75.66%, closely followed by Sonnar Murray-Brown and Erientanz on 75.04%. Michael Eilberg stole the third spot aboard SA Couer with 74.78%. Kicking off the class and the entire day’s action was Hartpury equine academy rider and Sports and Exercise Nutrition degree student, Lily Hewitt. Lily, who is a member of the Great Britain Young Riders dressage squad, scored 64.3% on Sir Charlie Chaplin.

Meanwhile it was Hester and Wanadoo who stole the show in the afternoon’s Lemieux FEI Grand Prix. The Great Britain rider’s score of 74.78% was enough to edge teammate Dujardin and Barolo into second place. Katherine Bateson-Chandler claimed third place with a score of 70.22%.

Following Hartpury student Lucy Pincus’ good showing on the opening day it was the turn of Equine Business Management student Chris Hammond to wow the judges in the Lovingtons Ice Advanced 105. His score of 68.26% aboard Ruban D’Or was enough to finish in third place behind Jennifer Johnston-Harman and Jodie Phillips respectively. Having taken a win yesterday, Pincus also helped herself to a tenth place

Lily Hewitt on Sir Charlie Chaplain. Photo Kevin Sparrow

Lily Hewitt on Sir Charlie Chaplain. Photo Kevin Sparrow

finish in the Zamar FEI Intermediate I.

In the para dressage, Izzy Palmer and Pinnochio were the stars of the action outdoors, clinching first place with 71.098% in the Grade III Individual Championship Test. It was an extremely close battle for second and third with Nicky Greenhill just pipping Rosemary Gaffney and Bink with 69.610% and 69.585% respectively.

Sophie Wells continued her fine form and again took the two top spots in the Grade IV, replicating – with almost the same score – last year’s results! She achieved first place on Valerius with 74.429% and second place on C Fatal Attraction scoring 72.262%.

The Grade 1a was also a close run affair, again with less than one percent between the top three placings. Anne Dunham repeated yesterday’s result with a win on LJT Lucas Normark with 73.080%. Only 0.2% behind was Sophie Christianson and Janerio 6 on 73.080% with Sergio Oliva and Coco Chanel coming in third on 72.783%.

Sonnar Murray-Brown on Erlentanz. Photo Kevin Sparrow

Sonnar Murray-Brown on Erlentanz. Photo Kevin Sparrow

Also continuing his winning form from yesterday, Lee Pearson again took the top spot in Grade 1b with Zion on 72.862%. Natasha Adkinson with Sweet Caledonia took second on 71.241% while Marcos Fernandes and Vladimir finished third on 69% exactly.

Natasha Baker and Cabral capped the morning of para competition off with another win under their belts in the Grade II on 74.857%. Erin Orford and Dior just stole second, improving on yesterday’s third place, with 70.257%. Suzanna Hext, who only competed in her first para international last year, came third on Abira with 69.514%.

While tickets for Saturday’s gala evening are now sold out, there are still tickets left for all three days of outstanding equestrian sport still to come at the Hartpury Festival of Dressage, including tomorrow (July 8th) when all four riders selected for the Great Britain dressage team for the Rio 2016 Olympics will be competing.

Day entry is £6 per person on July 8th, 9th and 10th. Under-16s go free on all days. If you would like to come on the 8th, 9th and 10th, you can buy a combined ticket for the special offer price of £15. Parking is free on all days.