GAL AND TOTILAS MAKE IT A GOLDEN HAT-TRICK ON A NIGHT TO REMEMBER by Louise Parkes

Lexington, 1 October – The brightest stars in the sport of dressage sparkled again tonight as The Netherlands’ Edward Gal and the amazing black stallion Moorlands Totilas claimed their third gold medal of the week in the Grand Prix Freestyle at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, USA.  On Tuesday they joined their Dutch counterparts to scoop the team title, on Wednesday they topped the Grand Prix Special, and tonight they made it a hat-trick when taking centre-stage on the Freestyle podium.  They’ve broken so many records over the last year that another came as no surprise – they are now the first partnership ever to win three World titles at a single Championship, but the Dutch duo didn’t steal all the limelight on this extraordinary evening.

Tonight’s silver medallist Laura Bechtolsheimer produced a personal best score of 85.35 with Mistral Hojris to become the first ever British rider to take three medals at a World Dressage Championship – in the Team, Special and Freestyle.  It’s been a sensational week for the 25 year old. And tonight’s bronze medallist, Steffen Peters, “put the icing on the cake,” as he said himself, when topping up the record he set on Wednesday when he became the first American to win an individual Championship medal in Dressage in the 78 years since Colonel Hiram Tottle and his horse, Olympic, took bronze at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1932.

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