Dujardin is national champion for first time

She’s already got World, European and Olympic titles under her belt – and now Charlotte Dujuardin has added the British National Championship to her list of honours.

Winning debut

Charlotte’s first national champion title came courtesy of Barolo, a German-bred gelding owned by Carl Hester and Anne Cohn. They got things underway with a win in Saturday’s LeMieux Grand Prix, scoring 72.90% to finish ahead of Spencer Wilton and Numberto (71.66%).

“He’s only nine years old and still really green, with this being just his third ever Grand Prix – so I couldn’t be more pleased,” said Charlotte.

The pressure was on the Sunday, as the horse had never competed in a Freestyle before. But riding to Valegro’s old music from the movie How to train your dragon, Charlotte and Barolo won with a score of 76.80%. “He’s never done a freestyle in his life and he really nailed his first!” Charlotte added. “It was underpowered and green in places but the canter work feels secure. There’s more to do on the trot work but he’s still learning; he’s such an exciting horse to have as a back-up for next year. It was quite emotional riding to that music because in my mind, that’s Blueberry’s music, but I just love riding to it.”

In second place was Lara Griffith with Rubin Al Asad (75.65%), while in third was Hayley Watson-Greaves and WG Rubins Nite (75.18%).

Good day

The final day of the LeMieux National Dressage Championships (17-20 September) saw Charlotte take home another prestigious title.

As well as winning the National Championship, she also won the Shearwater Potential International Dressage Horse Five year old section, riding the beautiful grey mare Florentina. The pair had already picked up a win in the Dodson & Horrell Novice Open championship on Friday.

“I was really emotional; it’s only her third competition so to come here and deal with the atmosphere, people and horses has made me so proud of her. She was so much more settled in the arena today; she was a little lit up yesterday but today she really relaxed and showed everyone what she can really do.”

In the Four Year Old class, Charlotte came second with MSJ Top Secret behind Amy Woodhead and Hawtins Duchessa.