last updated on September 30, 2010 11:08

The arena at the Kentucky horse park proved electric for the grand prix special 29 September 2010. In front of a crowd of 31,026 many experienced combinations felt the pressure and made unusual mistakes to leave the leader board wide open up to the very last few to go.

Britain’s Laura Bechtolsheimer produced a new British record Grand Prix Special score of 81.708% to claim our first ever World Championship individual Silver medal. Riding Dr Wilfried and Mrs Ursula Bechtolsheimer’s Mistral Horjis, Laura (25) once again rode a test of pure harmony and elegance which included several tens. The winner on the day was once again Edward Gal with Moorlands Totilas who looked even better than yesterday to score 85.708%. The home team collected their first Dressage medal of the games when Steffen Peters with Ravel posted 78.542% for bronze.

A delighted Laura commented; “I’ve worked hard to keep his focus for the Grand Prix special and I’m pretty happy with silver. I probably had a better chance of winning gold yesterday as he was more relaxed – he made me work quite hard today! I didn’t hear my mark for a long time as I was too busy telling my horse he was a legend.” In the press conference, one journalist asked if she’d considered swapping nationalities for Germany where she was actually born, she replied; “I only lived in Germany for one year – I grew up in Britain, went to school in Britain, all my friends are in Britain and I’m proud to compete for Britain!”

The President of the Ground Jury, Mary Seefried (AUS) was asked about the top riders performances and she said; “It was a show of harmony, classic riding and certainly entering goose bump territory!”

Earlier in the day, Maria Eilberg was the first of the four British riders to contest the Grand Prix Special with her ever consistent partner Two Sox and they were again solid for 68.500%. As Maria promised, she “went for it” in her extended trot and the horse generally looked more active today. They finished 21st overall.

Fiona Bigwood was next with Wie Atlantico and their test was well presented for 69.708%. She commented; “For us it was all about the team competition, that’s the test we’ve really focused on for the team effort and it really paid off. I’m delighted with him today. It’s not always we get to do the Special and I wondered how he would go as we really prepared him to peak for Monday’s test. Also, I hadn’t done that much preparation for this test so there were a few little mistakes. He’s exceeded all our expectations out here.”

Carl Hester went just half an hour later with Liebling II and there were a few errors early on including a break in the extended trot which cost a few percent but ever the showman, he continued well with the marks creeping up and up for a final total of 69.417%. He was clearly disappointed but the focus of his preparation had been yesterday’s team test and Leibling II or “Lenny” just couldn’t give him any more.

Fiona finished in 16th position and the top 15 automatically qualify for Friday night’s Dressage climax, the freestyle. However, there are four German riders in the top 15 and only three can qualify so Fiona will join Laura. Carl who finished 17th just behind Fiona will be next in if any of the horses above drop out for any reason.

Gold - Netherlands, Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas, 85.708%

Silver - Great Britain, Laura Bechtolsheimer and Mistral Hojris, 81.708%

Bronze - USA, Steffen Peters and Ravel, 78.542%

View full results from the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games website here.

>> Listen to Laura's reaction after her test here

>> Listen to Fiona Bigwood's full reaction here