Aachen 2026: Glamourdale Airlines delivers double gold

Under the lights of Aachen’s iconic stadium and in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 spectators, the world’s best dressage combinations delivered a spectacular evening of freestyle competition. Leading the way was Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale, who produced a breathtaking performance to claim a second freestyle gold medal and secure her title as a double World Champion. 

(C) Andrea Rodruigez | British Dressage

Lottie delivered yet another back-to-back Gold performance, becoming the double World Champion for the second time aboard her own and Van Olst Horses’ Glamourdale. With her high-energy medley of flying-themed pop and classic songs, Lottie and Glamourdale glided around the stage in front of judges Maria Colliander (K – FIN), Clive Halsall (E – GBR), Maribel Alonso de Quinzaños (H – MEX), Ulrike Nivelle (C – GER), Alice Schwab (M – AUT), Michael Osinki (B – USA) and Kurt Christiansen (F – DEN) to finish on a fantastic 91.907%. This stunning score bests their winning score from the 2022 World Championships in Herning where they completed on 90.654%, and sat less than 0.9% away from their personal best that they achieved at the FEI European Championships in 2023. In their artistic marks, the pair achieved no less that 97.200%, with four of the judges on 99.000% or higher. For the technical, Lottie and Glamourdale achieved numerous 10’s throughout the canter work, leaving them with scores in the mid 80.000% from all of the judges.  

Speaking about her performance on the Lord Leatherdale-sired stallion, Lottie quite simply said “It couldn’t be better for me”, going on further to explain “he was completely relaxed, he was super happy, we both enjoyed every second. We weren’t sweating, we weren’t out of breath, it was just so enjoyable”. Throughout the music, which included songs such as Frank Sinatras ‘Come Fly With Me’, Vengaboys' ‘We're Going to Ibiza’, John Denver's ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’, and Nelly Furtado's ‘I'm like a Bird’, Lottie described herself as “smiling throughout the test, I had to keep reminding myself to ‘concentrate… we’re at the World Championship!’, but it was the most amazing feeling in the world. This really was the best test of our lives so far so I do hope that we continue to improve but for now… this is just incredible.”  

“It has been an amazing week, Glammy has performed beyond all of our expectations and he’s been a complete dream to ride from the stable to the arena he’s so happy here… he loves it. Before we went in to the main arena… he kept looking over there [the main arena] from the warm up every time they started clapping as if to go ‘can we go yet!’. I had to tell him it wasn’t our go yet, we have to wait! He was whinnying the whole way in, he was so excited to get in there, but as soon as you are in he is so quiet and calm… like this is his place.”  

Speaking on the atmosphere of the crowd, Lottie described it as “amazing”, going on further to explain that “going in, you know it’s going to be a huge atmosphere, but you don’t really look up to have a look at what’s going on around you… but you can feel everyone there, especially when he does an extended canter, I can hear them which is really cool! … I’ve never ridden in quite an arena like that.” 

Debuting the British cohort was Becky Moody and her lovely homebred Jagerbomb. Becky and Bomb performed their best test all week to come away with a fabulous final score of 87.479%. The pair danced to their Beatles-inspired music, featuring some of their top hits including ‘All You Need is Love’, ‘Here Comes the Sun’, ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘Twist and Shout’, and ‘Come Together’. The pair were greatly awarded for their artistry, scoring in the early to mid 90s from all of the judges, reflecting their fabulous interpretation of music and degree of technical difficulty shown. For their technical mark, the 12-year-old gelding averaged around the 80% mark, coming in touching distance to their personal best from Fort Worth earlier in the year.  

After their rocky start on the first day for the Grand Prix, Bomb grew in confidence in the huge arena and performed without hesitation to the catchy soundtrack. “I had no idea how he was going to react going in there, especially since I don’t think any of these horses have seen anything quite like this before. But he just walked in there like ‘yeah, this is cool!’, and he was so chilled… he was amazing.” However, reflecting on the technical elements of the test itself, Becky commented that “I felt like my piaffe’s took a little while, but once everyone started clapping on the centre line at the end, we were away! They lacked a bit of energy that we can usually have, but he was so with me and everything… we showed such a harmonious picture which was what I’m really trying to do, so that was a really good feeling.”  

Finally, Carl Hester showcased yet another masterful performance with a rather spicy Fame. The Bordeaux-sired stallion found the whole atmosphere a bit much, causing a few spooks and areas of tension, which Carl described as the “Fame from four years ago”. These spooks were tactfully dealt with, enabling Carl to keep up with his music and come away with 82.304% to finish seventh overall. With his new music, which featured a combination of David Bowie’s greatest hits such as ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Star Man’, ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Fame’ which the judges loved, he scored from the late 80s in to the early 90s for his artistic mark. For the technical mark, the moments of tension were unfortunately costly for the pair, leaving them sat in the mid to late 70s, but show lots of exciting promise for the future.  

“It felt like I had a totally different horse to ride [than the other nights]” Carl explained, “literally the Fame from four years ago to ride. He was looking for everything! It was the speakers, so every time I had to turn right there was a speaker in front of him, every corner, a speaker in front of him, so we weren’t going in the corner… so we can do all the arena walks in the world to prepare for it but nothing gives an arena the feeling of when there is 40,000 people. It really was a freestyle because I had to get myself in to a place in the arena where I could actually do something! He’s great fun to ride like that though… but it wasn’t going to get us in with the top lot. He had a real chance tonight [of getting in the top five] if he had come down a peg or two, but when he came in and Catherine [Laudrup-Dufour] came out he was a bit like ‘right, this is it!’… so even going in I was thinking a bit like I have no idea what I was going to get."

“I’m not disappointed, we’ve had an amazing week, and again he’s just been fantastic all week. It’s been another fantastic week for British Dressage and I couldn’t be more grateful for our amazing support team. We do have an army out here with us, and they make sure that we are in the best possible place to produce the best performances, so for that we are all really, really grateful.” 

Elsewhere in the medals, Catherine Laudrup-Dufour finished in second place with 91.236% with Mount St John Freestyle (Fidermark x Donnerhall) and Isabell Werth completed the podium in third place with Wendy de Fontaine (Sezuan x Blue Hors Soprano) on 88.650%.  

On behalf of British Dressage, we would like to congratulate all of the riders, their owners, and their support teams on their huge success’ over the past week. We would also like to wish the rest of the Britsh teams that are out in Aachen the very best of luck as they are also looking for their Olympic qualifications and medal glory! We now look forward to the next couple of years of campaigning as we start to look towards the incredibly exciting 2028 LA Olympics.  

Results – top 10 

1. Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale, 91.907% (GBR) 

2. Catherine Laudrup-Dufour, 91.236% (DEN) 

3. Isabell Werth and Wendy de Fontaine, 88.650% (GER) 

4. Justin Verboomen and Zonik Plus, 88.439% (BEL) 

5. Becky Moody and Jagerbomb, 87.479% (GBR) 

6. Marieke van der Putten and Zantana RS2 Old N.O.P, 82.693% (NED) 

7. Carl Hester and Fame, 82.304% (GBR) 

8. Raphael Netz and Great Escape Camelot, 80.946% (GER) 

9. Sandra Sysojeva and Maxima Bella, 80.175% (POL) 

10. Daniel Bachmann Andersen and Flash Gordon 37, 80.107% (DEN) 

FULL RESULTS