Carl Hester claims Grand Prix Freestyle at Hartpury Gala
Carl Hester showed his Olympic pedigree at last night’s Gala Evening with a gold performance at Hartpury’s Festival of Dressage.
Riding Nip Tuck, Hartpury’s Equine Academy dressage coach and Olympic gold medallist treated the crowd to a mesmerising display as he took the honours in the Superflex CDI FEI Grand Prix Freestyle event with a score of 80.050%.
Henriette Anderson, riding Warlocks Charm, secured second place with a score of 75.000% while Hayley Watson Greaves took the final podium position with a score of 72.750% on Rubins Nite.
In the Elite Stallions British Young Horse PSG Championship, Hester’s Great Britain teammate, Michael Eilberg, conjured up an eye-catching test on Woodlander Farouche as they stormed to victory with a score of 77.807%.
Alice Oppenheimer and Tantoni Sir Soccrates had earlier set the standard for Eilberg to beat with a score of 74.518% but eventually had to settle for second place, while Kate Cowell and Dahling took third with a score of 68.684%.
Lucy Pincus, a student on the Equine Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) provided by British Dressage and British Eventing and run exclusively at Hartpury, was also in action and she produced a fine showing on Sheepcote Don Calisto to finish just behind Cowell in fourth place after a score of 67.675%.
Sammie Gualtieri won the British Young Rider A Squad final with Emily Watts and Emily Blount finishing in second and third place respectively.