Aachen 2026: One down, one to go... Fry strikes gold in the Special

Lottie Fry defended her 2022 World Championship Gold Medal, claiming a commanding win in the Grand Prix Special competition whilst Carl Hester and Becky Moody bring home two top-ten performances.

© FEI | Lukasz Kowalski

Lottie Fry had defended her 2022 title, bringing home a win on a fantastic 82.295% in the Grand Prix Special at Aachen. Sitting 1.3% ahead of Catherine Laudrup-Dufour in second place, Lottie gave us a masterclass performance in front of judges Alice Schwab (K – AUT), Maria Colliander (E – FIN), Ulrike Nivelle (H – GER), Kurst Christensen (C – DEN), Michael Osinski (M – USA), Maribel Alonso de Quinzaños (B – MEX) and Clive Halsall (F – GBR). Throughout the test, Glamourdale kept a soft, open frame, gliding his way through the trot tour; especially through the passage work, where they maintained the forward, fluid movement. Throughout the extended trot, the pair were scoring 9.0s. Moving into the canter tour, his huge tempi changes were massively awarded, scoring 9.0s 10.0’s from the judges. Alongside the tempi changes, Glamourdale’s signature extended canter received mostly 10’s across the board, scoring only one 9.0. Through the canter pirouettes with the one time tempi changes were also awarded with 9.0s, setting him up beautifully for their final centre line where they produced a stunning final passage and piaffe line to land them in Gold.

“I really haven’t taken it in yet”, Lottie exclaimed, “it was just the most incredible test. Glamourdale knew how important it was, and he loved that arena. He did the most amazing test. I think I’m a bit emotional still, it’s still sinking in. It was an amazing feeling. We’ve been really working to this point and hoping we would peak at the right time; for it all just to come together is like a dream.”

“I knew what amazing competition we have and how much the sport is improving all the time. There are so many incredible horses and riders now, I knew it was going to be really tough, so we’ve just been fovused on ourselves and didn’t think too much about anyone else. I cried my eyes out the whole way out of the test as I was in such shock at how amazing that horse is, and I was just shaking for the last 10 minutes waiting for the final score to go up!”

Carl once again gave us an outstanding performance with Fame, coming away with 78.289% to finish in sixth position individually. The duo entered with relaxation and fluidity, moving through the majority trot tour on a trend of 77%. Their piaffe and passage showed seamless transitions, the extended trots showed brilliant ground cover, and the half passes flowed with ease. Throughout the extended walk, Fame showed off his relaxed, ground-covering walk, moving fully through his back and opening the frame. The canter tour was his true highlight, with clean, active tempi changes, and pirouettes that were awarded 8.5’s and 9.0s from the judges. His bold extended canter showed excellent elevation and scope whilst maintaining lightness and balance. When reflecting on the test, Carl simply opened with: “What a horse he was today!”

“He’s 16 years old, and I’ve really tried to look after him this week. I didn’t really ride him yesterday, just gave him a walk, trot, canter. I had all my trust in him and just thought I’d save the best for today, and for him to give that to me today… it was a pleasure to ride him, I enjoyed the ride.” Carl then went on further to explain this small ‘compromise’ he made with Fame: “It was a difficult test because he was a little bit spooky, so if he is on the wall he always does try to move in a little bit… that’s why he’s so good at the Grand Prix because everything is in the middle… when I turned right, because he’s always a bit spookier that way, I had to let him move just one metre in off the track… which was fun because that’s his personality. He just makes me laugh because I love him for it, I know him for it… I know that he maybe isn’t the biggest mover like some of these top five, but he does his best to keep up with them with his personality and his desire to work, and I’m always looking at his ears and they are always fine.”

Carl went on further to reflect how training impacts his score, explaining that Fame’s upright build is always a challenge, but that he makes it his aim to ensure that he makes it look effortless. “Dressage is just training: it’s not always the flashiest horse that will win, it is the best trained horse with three good paces and correct gaits, and doing everything easily… it’s got to be easy to watch hasn’t it? That’s what people want to see. Fame has, I think, that ease.”

Looking forward to tomorrow’s Freestyle, Carl has teased that we will be seeing a new side to his Freestyle riding, describing it as “Something very new, very different for me… I’ve changed my style completely – I’ve gone for the crowd pleaser… not the me pleaser! So we’ve got David Bowie… bit of a compilation… some big tunes that a lot of people might know.”

Becky Moody kicked off the British campaign in style, producing a much more relaxed and harmonious test to finish on 77.660% and finish a fraction behind Carl in seventh position. Following an active trot with a square, immobile halt, Becky and Bomb blew across the diagonal in a powerful and controlled extended trot, trending on 80% for their first couple of movements. Throughout the trot tour, the pair were trending in the late 70’s with their rhythmical passage work and fluent half passes. In canter, they showed excellent extended canters and clean lines of tempi changes, especially moving into the canter pirouettes with one-time tempi changes on the centre line, where the duo did not miss a beat and maintained fluidity and expression throughout.

During the performance, the crowd was captivated by Becky and Bomb and were full of energy and enthusiasm upon completion of her final centre line. An ecstatic Becky spoke after her test in an interview, reflecting on the experience by saying “He [Bomb] was amazing in there. He was a little bit more relaxed and chilled in there than he was the other day which made life much much easier, I think I was also a little bit better prepared going in there as I’d been in there once.” Even more impressively, Becky described their drama before going into the test, explaining that following a practice halt and turn on the forehand in the ten-minute arena, Bomb trod on his foot and pulled off one of his front shoes. Unfortunately, there was not time to put the shoe back on before his test, but was declared sound by Becky, along with the team vet and farrier, Andre Buthe and Mark Watson. Becky remarked that it “wasn’t the ideal prep… but I think that is where our relationship does really shine.. and he’s got really good strong feet thank goodness! We checked him and he was all good, but it wasn’t what you want to happen just before you go in!”

However, when further reflecting on how she prepared for this test after Tuesday’s Grand Prix, Becky did comment that “I think you have that bit more experience once you have been in to the ring once already. He was very hot in there to start off with on Tuesday, so I was a bit more prepared for that today… we did the arena familiarisation under the lights last night where I just walked him, stretched him and did some halting, which is the thing that is hard or him when he gets a bit excited. But he was really good last night, but also if I’m honest, I prefer the Special with him; it suits both of us a little bit more. So, I think as you are going into the arena for the second time and you know that the test suits the horse, I went in there with a little bit more confidence as well.”

Looking forward to the Freestyle tomorrow, Becky explained that “I’m already a real mixture of super excited but also super, super nervous! I think it will just be an incredible experience for everyone tomorrow night. Aachen is probably the most iconic show there is, I came here for the first time last year for the Nations Cup and that was a fantastic show… but this is just a whole other level… When I rode in there last night under the floodlights to an empty stadium, even now it made me a bit like ‘oh my God!’, so the thought of riding in there with 40,000 people in the stands tomorrow night is just incredible.”

Congratulations go to each of the riders and their teams for the fantastic performances over the last couple of days. Thanks also go to the team who are out supporting the riders, especially the team Chef D’Equipe Darrell Scaife. We now look forward to the Grand Prix Freestyle tomorrow, where Lottie will be looking to defend her crown once again.

Results – top 10

1. Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale, 82.295% (GBR)

2. Catherine Laudrup-Dufour, 80.927% (DEN)

3. Katharina Hemmer and Denoix PCH, 80.866% (GER)

4. Isabell Werth and Wendy de Fontaine, 79.544% (GER)

5. Justin Verboomen and Zonik Plus, 79.362% (BEL)

6. Carl Hester and Fame, 78.298% (GBR)

7. Becky Moody and Jagerbomb, 77.660% (GBR)

8. Marieke van der Putten and Zantana RS2 Old N.O.P, 76.246% (NED)

9. Maria von Essen and Invoice, 75.274% (SWE)

10. Raphael Netz and Great Escape Camelot, 75.091% (GER)

FULL RESULTS