Charlotte Dujardin achieves HOYS hat-trick with another rising star

Photo:1st Cass Images

Charlotte Dujardin has completed a Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) hat-trick in the Dressage Future Elite Championship.

‘Really happy’

Riding Florentina VI Charlotte posted a score of 79.12% to win the title for a third time. Second place went to Nicola Buchanan and Halfmoon Dark Magic, with Becky Moody and Eureko taking third.

“This is Florentina’s first 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,” said Charlotte. “But she felt really good, so I am really happy.”

WEG medals

The Dressage Future Elite Championship is aimed at promising horses aged between eight and 10, who perform an Inter I freestyle test.

“It’s great to bring horses like her here and get them used to this environment and atmosphere,” Charlotte added.

It has been a busy few weeks for the Olympic gold medallist. After winning two bronze medals at WEG in North Carolina, she then travelled straight to the LeMieux British Dressage National Championships in Warwickshire, before arriving at Horse of the Year Show.

Fantastic string

“It has been non-stop, but WEG was fantastic,” said Charlotte. “We weren’t sure if we were going to bring home a medal, but it went better than we could have ever thought.

“I have learnt so much from going to WEG. With me dealing with different aspects of it with Valegro, there was so much pressure, and now it is about bringing other horses.

“I have got a fantastic string of horses, and heading towards Tokyo I think I will have about four grand prix horses lined up, which is a great position to be in. It’s fantastic.”

You can watch HOYS on Horse & Country as we are showing daily highlights at 7pm – just hours after the live event. 

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