Charlotte (Lottie) Fry and Glamourdale secured Team GB’s fifth equestrian medal earlier today (Sunday 4 August) when they performed a stunning Freestyle in the individual dressage finals.

Before a packed Olympic arena in the stunning Versailles Palace grounds, the reigning world champion and the 13-year-old stallion performed to an eclectic mix of tunes, including Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust, Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony and The Beatles’ Hey Jude.

The pair were practically foot-perfect and the plan beautifully showed off the son of Lord Leatherdale’s control and athleticism, earning them 88.971%. Their score was enough to award them the third place on the podium, behind dressage legend Isabell Werth and Wendy in silver (89.614%), and fellow German Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, who scored an incredible 90.093% with Dalera for gold.

Twenty eight-year-old Lottie she was very proud of Glamourdale.

“I 100% knew he was capable of it, but to be able to pull it off in there today and get the bronze is just incredible,” she said. “The support from the crowd was amazing and the prizegiving was just insane! That feeling going around with Jessica and Isabell — two idols and huge inspirations in our sport — was just incredible.

“I didn’t watch anybody after my test, I knew they were all very good. I didn’t want to disappoint myself so I was just happy with my ride. We were on our way back to the stables and I just thought we better check the scores before we decided to start packing up and suddenly there was screaming going on and we realised we had the bronze so it was so exciting!”

Lottie’s teammates, Carl Hester with Fame and Becky Moody with Jagerbomb, also rose to the occasion, and secured 6th and 8th place, with 85.161% and 84.357% respectively.

Carl’s moving test involved a challenging floorplan, which he executed with his well-known precision and grace. Musical highlights included Mary Hopkin’s Those Were the Days, which matched Fame’s energy and rhythm perfectly.

Becky’s music was upbeat, joyful and lively, including hits from Tom Jones’, like Not Unusual and Sexbomb, plus Prince’s Kiss. The pair pulled off their technical floor plan and even secured a personal best, making their Olympic debut all the more remarkable.

‘I had to trust myself’

This was the second time in a row that Jessica has won individual gold, having triumphed in the Tokyo Olympics, again with Dalera. It is also the second time she has stood above her compatriot Isabell, who also won individual silver at the last Olympics, but that time with Bella Rose.

The German team won gold their 15th team gold yesterday, but Jessica admitted that the pressure of going last of her team had affected her performance and that she had to pull herself together for today.

“Today I woke up and I thought, ok, it’s all about trust, we are enough and I have to trust myself and I have to trust Dalera. It was about letting go, to surrender,” she said.

Jessica kept her preparation to the minimum, so much so that Dalera didn’t break into a sweat all day. “I didn’t even do a whole pirouette in the warm up — she went in [to the arena] with dry hair and came out with dry hair!”

Talking about her ride, she said Dalera “was 1,000% with me, she had no ear or eye anywhere else than me, she was listening so carefully and she really showed me that this is what she wants to do and this is why it makes me so emotional because I don’t know if I will ever get another horse like her. She’s the most intelligent horse I’ve ever had, she is out of this world!”

Asked what her plans are now for the 17-year-old mare, the newly re-crowned champion said Dalera will compete a few more times this year and then retire to breed some foals in the spring.

“I owe her so much. I love her and I will spoil her until the last day of her life,” she added.

Meanwhile multi-medalled Isabell, who herself struck individual gold with Gigolo in Atlanta in 1996, has only been riding Wendy since the beginning of the year. The new partnering was hard to believe as the pair looked like a match made in heaven as they rode through their magical Freestyle.

“We [Team Germany] had the luck on our side yesterday, the Danish team also could have won, and today I’m really happy with the result because at the end it’s a lucky punch for Jessica and a bit unlucky for me, that’s how it goes,” Isabell said. “But both horses were fantastic, we had such a high standard in the competition. The first starter had 80% already so I think it was just fantastic. And for me, with this horse, and in this atmosphere, I don’t feel that I lost anything.”

Dressage has attracted high-profile attention at these Olympic Games, including spectators you might not expect to see involved with the equestrian world, such as rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Ryan Gosling.

Although the magical dressage has wrapped up for this Olympic Games, there’s not long to wait until the equestrian action at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games later this month (28 August – 8 September). Team GB has an impressive line up of riders, who will be competing from 3 September.

What’s more, equestrians can look forward to the showjumping individual final on Tuesday (6 August) with qualifiers taking place tomorrow (5 August) from 1pm (GMT), where Team GB will be hoping to add even more medals to its haul…

Images by FEI/Benjamin Clark

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