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Dujardin Smashes Grand Prix World Record at Olympia

Charlotte Dujardin. Photo: Kit Houghton/Hpower.

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro once again delighted a packed house at Olympia, The London International Horse Show, producing a World Record score in the Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage Grand Prix supported by Horse & Hound. The mark of 87.46% beat their previous record, set by the World, Olympic and European Champions at the World Cup Final in Lyon earlier in the year.

Charlotte, who has come to the Show directly from The BBC Sports Personality of the Year in Glasgow, complete with a bad cold, was as equally delighted with the new record score especially as it was their first competition since The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in August.

“We don’t set out to break a record it just happens – we just want to do our best and any record is a bonus,” said Charlotte, who always looks forward to competing at Olympia.

She said, “It is a great end to the season and fantastic to be competing in front of the home crowd and Blueberry never fails to rise to the occasion.”

The pair heads the draw for tomorrow night’s World Cup Freestyle with Charlotte promising to ‘let rip’ to the routine that is set to the music from ‘How to Train Your Dragon.’

Dutch team rider Edward Gal, a regular and popular visitor to Olympia, was second with Glocks Undercover NOP with the high mark of 80.12%, albeit still 7% adrift of the winning score. The Dutchman admitted that having to follow Charlotte was not ideal preparation for a test.

He said, “Glocks got very excited by the clapping and I had to hold him back at the beginning of the test but I was very pleased that he found his one-time changes again as he had totally lost them yesterday.”

Fellow Dutch rider Danielle Heijkoop and Siro NOP were third with British rider Carl Hester and Nip Tuck in fourth.

The top fifteen from tonight’s Grand Prix class will go forward to tomorrow’s World Cup Freestyle starting at 8:10pm.

The opening night saw record attendance figures at Olympia for a Grand Prix competition. The final performance of the evening welcomed Kauto Star and Laura Collett who performed a dazzling dressage display in the famous Olympia arena.

To view the full results, click HERE.

For more information, please contact Hannah Rawdon-Mogg, hannah@revolutionsports.co.uk, +44(0)7786 052926 or +44(0)207 592 1207.

Olympia will broadcast live on BBC2 on Sunday 21 December and available to view on Eurosport, the BBC Red Button, online and connected TV on Wednesday 17, Thursday 18 and Monday 22 December. In addition, a special highlights program will be aired on BBC2 on Tuesday 23 December at 13:45.

Olympia, The London International Horse Show
The first international horse show took place in the Olympia halls in 1907. Olympia, The London International Horse Show, the event we see today, was started by Raymond Brooks-Ward in 1971. This year’s show takes place on 16-22 December 2014 in the Olympia Exhibition Hall, located in West Kensington London. The show will play host to a packed timetable of all things equestrian and is expected to welcome over 90,000 visitors. It is regarded as one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious equine competitions. The show mixes top class equestrian action, including FEI World Cup™ Jumping, Dressage and Driving with family entertainment, such as the Osborne Refrigerators Shetland Pony Grand National which raises money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Kennel Club Dog Agility. The show’s official charity for 2014 is The Injured Jockeys Fund.

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