Charlotte Dujardin Takes HOYS Dressage Future Elite Championship Title
Charlotte Dujardin thrilled crowds with a Horse of the Year Show hat-trick yesterday evening riding Florentina VI by winning the prestigious Dressage Future Elite Championship title, posting a score of 79.12%.
The HOYS title class has run for six years, which Dujardin has now won consecutively for the last three, each year on a different horse. In 2017 she took the title on board Mount St John Freestyle and in 2016, with Hawtins Delicato.
The aim of the class is to recognise the rise of Grand Prix horses performing at Inter I freestyle, between the age of eight and 10. It offers valuable experience by putting them in the spotlight early on in their career
Dujardin commented;
This is Florentina’s first real 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, but she felt really good. I am really happy.
Following on from her success at The World Equestrian Games, Dujardin went on to talk about her busy schedule;
I have literally come home from WEG, went straight to the National Championships, and then to here. It has been non-stop, but WEG was fantastic. We weren’t sure if we were going to bring home a medal, but it went better than we could have ever have 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 on another horse. 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.”
An overwhelmed Nicola Buchanan, riding Halfmoon Dark Magic danced into second place to take reserve champion. See her Facebook status and video below.
Crowd favourite, Becky Moody and Eureko finished in third on almost 75%. Take a look at Moody’s rather uplifting interpretation of Eureko’s experience at the event here.
HOYS competition carries on today and throughout the weekend with the Puissance spectacular taking place on Saturday evening.
The Everything Horse press team will be at the event over the weekend. You can keep up to date with our news via the website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.