Double Olympic Champions Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro added a World Champion title to their collection by taking Gold in the Dressage Grand Prix Special Individual competition with an outstanding performance on a score of 86.120%, the highest ever score recorded by a horse and rider at the World Equestrian Games.

In a closely fought contest, Charlotte held on to Gold after a superb test from Germany’s Helen Langehanenberg riding Damon Hill NRW, who finished in Silver on her score of 84.468%.

Charlotte spoke afterwards “It was a great ride and I was very happy with my test. I had no team members to worry about so I thought I’d just go for everything. Valegro was just fantastic – he is a like Ferrari with all that power. The crowd were very hard to deal with, all I could hear were gasps, whether I did a good or a bad thing.

Helen Langehanenberg was equally thrilled at her own result “The test felt very good. He always goes forward and listens very well. He is keen on working with me and knows what to do. I did not know Charlotte’s score before I went into the stadium – I was just concentrating on my preparation and test. I am really looking forward to Friday now – he is a very happy horse!

Kristina Sprehe at just 27 years of age is another one of Germany’s bright prospects in the world of dressage. Having won a team Olympic Silver and team Golds at the European’s and the World Games respectively she added her first individual medal to the collection. “I am really happy. Coming in to these Games I was only focused on Team Gold. I had no thoughts for the Individual at all. This is just fantastic, completely fantastic! My horse was perfect in the test, even if during the passages he lost some rhythm and he has to be more energetic. I had a really fantastic feeling during the whole test.”

Tomorrow  Eleanore Kelly, Horse Scouts roving reporter will be heading down to Haras La Pin for the first day of Eventing Dressage.