last updated on December 17, 2009 10:28

After Windsor there was Olympia, and it was another record breaking night for the sport of dressage that happened right here in Britain. History was made yet again, when on their third visit to the UK this year, Edward Gal and the amazing nine-year-old Gribaldi stallion, Moorlands Totilas scored 92.30% in the grand prix freestyle. A clear ten per cent ahead of the field, once again Totilas had the audience mesmerised by his performance to haunting music.

Fellow Dutch rider Adelinde Cornelissen and twelve-year-old Jazz gelding Parzival were second with 82.05%, with Carl Hester and Leibling ll heading the Brits with 78.45%. It was a more than respectable night for the host country, Laura Bechtolsheimer was fourth with 77.35% on Andretti H with Richard Davison and Artemis on 75.15% in fifth.

“I should think it was about a third of the way through when I realised that I had just given 10’s.” said president of the ground jury Stephen Clarke of marking the wonder horse’s test. Although he did also give some lower marks, including a seven for the two time changes. “At Windsor many people thought we were so lucky to witness this level of dressage and we were very lucky to see that again tonight.”

Once again Totilas’s rider Edward Gal was almost speechless, “It felt so good it’s not easy to talk about, it just felt really, really good, everyone who saw it knows that. It felt like a fairytale.”

Parzival was a little overwhelmed by the atmosphere and spooked by the capacity 8,500 crowd and the exciting atmosphere, but Adelinde kept him together enough to score more than eighty per cent; “He was really tense, today was not easy, he was spooky and scared.”

For Carl Hester it was another best ride on Donald McTaggart’s twelve-year-old gelding by Lorentin, Leibling ll, even though the horse felt tired after the previous night’s grand prix; “Last night was the best ride I’ve ever had on, he felt a bit tired tonight and I didn’t think he had much more in him after Windsor so it was great to add 5% to that score here.”

Henriette Andersen scored a more than respectable 70.20% on Louis d’Or on their first visit to Olympia, and Judy Harvey scored 69% on Fitzcerraldo on her first ride here. Steph Croxford and Mr.President scored 69.70% to finish in tenth place. 

Madeleine Hill reporting from the London International Horse Show at Olympia.

>> View full results from the competition here
>> Listen to Edward Gal's interview here