Gorgeous Jorge wows the judges
British riders take home freestyle gold in every possible grade
FOR all the medals on her glittering record, it’s been four years since Sophie Wells last won freestyle gold, with Valerius at the 2013 Europeans. However, she made up for it here, riding a blinder to secure the grade V title with her own and Charlotte Hogg’s C Fatal Attraction (Jorge).
The freestyle at grade V is roughly equivalent to prix st georges standard and Sophie packed everything into her routine. She and “Gorgeous Jorge” displayed elastic, expressive shoulder-in and steep half-passes set to an emotive trot soundtrack. The dramatic canter section featured beautifully precise halfpirouettes, bouncy three-time changes and bold extensions.
It was hard to believe Sophie when she revealed that the British-bred 10-year-old had been tricky in the warm-up, such was the standard of their 78.35%-scoring routine.
“He can really close in on himself, and I can’t force him to take me forward. I really didn’t know what I was going to get in the arena — he’s unpredictable,” she explained.
“But he pulled it out of the bag and I could really go for it by the end. He had that floorplan at the Europeans in 2015, when he was called up as reserve and wasn’t really ready for it. Now he’s in his comfort zone.”
With Sophie’s long-time rival, Belgium’s Michele George, still developing her brand new partnership with the seven-yearold stallion Fusion OLD — and suffering a blow when eliminated under blood rules on the final day — it was the Dutch rider Frank Hosmar who gave Sophie a run for her money throughout the championships. But although his freestyle with Alphaville NOP — set to techno music by the German band Alphaville — was highly polished, it wasn’t quite enough to beat Sophie’s stirring performance.
In contrast to Sophie’s complex freestyle, Julie Payne and Athene Lindebjerg’s owner Di Redfern made the decision to keep their grade I floorplan simple.
“Athene doesn’t need a lot of fancy movements to show her off, so we stuck with the compulsories, with lots of long lines in between to really show off her fabulous walk,” said Julie, who was quite overcome to score the highest mark of the championship — 80.39% — and claim her third gold by 3% over Latvia’s Rihards Snikus and King Of The Dance. Rihards gained a host of new fans with his jubilant reaction to winning silver.
It was staggering to think that Julie’s score would have been even higher had Athene not tripped and included a half stride of canter coming into the early serpentine.
“I felt she could have been a little more connected, but I really enjoyed the test after the blip near the start,” said Julie, whose spinetingling piano music, compiled by Julie Geraghty and perfectly complementing the elegant mare, was responsible for mass goosebumps in the stands.
“I always feel the closest I
ever come to nervous right before the freestyle,” admitted Julie. “I am deaf in one ear so I worry about hearing the music, but once it starts I love it.”
‘I WANT TO CLONE HIM’
SUZANNA HEXT completed a hat-trick of gold medals when she and Abira scored 76.4% to scoop the grade III freestyle. It was close at the top, with less than 0.3% spanning the medals. Silver went to Stefan Zeibig of Germany (Feel Good) with Denmark’s Tobias Thorning Joergensen (Bruunholms Caribian) in bronze.
But Suzanna pulled out all the stops with a brand new freestyle that she bravely performed for the first time in competition. Canter is optional in grade III freestyles, and both Suz and Erin Orford, who finished an agonising fourth after a super test with Dior, opted not to canter in their routines.
“I was struggling to manage the canter by the last day of a competition so we took it out in the new floorplan,” explained
Suz. “We created a more complex trot routine to show off Abira’s strengths, such as steep leg-yields from the centre line.
“Today my body wasn’t on my side, but Abira really was. He knows when I’m not feeling my best and he always gives me that bit extra. Very few horses like him come around — I want to clone him! When I get on him I drift into my own world — no other horse has given me that feeling.
“To win three golds here is just incredible — Pammy and Charlie are going crazy at home!”