Hester Pips Dujardin In Battle Of The British Olympians In London
by Louise Parkes
Carl Hester pipped his super-star protégé, fellow-Olympian and world no. 1 rider Charlotte Dujardin for victory in the spell-binding sixth leg of the Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage 2015/2016 Western European League at Olympia in London (GBR) December 16, 2016. Riding Nip Tuck, the 11-year-old gelding, with whom he helped clinch team silver at this summer’s FEI European Championships in Aachen, Germany, the 48-year-old rider delivered a performance that simply demonstrated why he has long been a legend in this sport.
Winner of the third leg of the series in Stockholm, Sweden last month, Hans Peter Minderhoud from The Netherlands lined up third with Glock’s Flirt while, on a great night for the home-country contenders, Lara Griffith claimed fourth spot with Rubin Al Asad.
Ground Jury President, Great Britain’s Stephen Clarke, put the competition into perspective when he said, “It was fantastic, the whole level was really high with all the riders going for it. Hans Peter and Charlotte both did great tests, but then Carl came in with a degree of difficulty that was just amazing. He spent the first five minutes on the centre line! It was a test with a great degree of difficulty that worked, and that’s why he won.”
