KILDARE Olympian Judy Reynolds soared to the head of the Western European Dressage World Cup League with a fantastic fourth place finish in the fifth leg of the FEI World Cup qualifiers at Olympia in London last Thursday night.

On an electrifying night at the London International Horse Show, which saw the emotional retirement ceremony of the amazing Rio Olympic champion Valegro, Carl Hester landed a back-to-back double to win on home ground with Nip Tuck.

The Grand Hall at Olympia was packed to see 14-year-old Valegro officially retire from the sport after performing his stunning London 2012 Olympic Games freestyle test one last time with Charlotte Dujardin.

An emotional Hester, who created the fairytale partnership and trained and mentored the pair throughout their career, said afterwards: “It has been such a joyous occasion – I know everyone wanted it to be sad but how could anyone be sad to see Valegro go out so fit and well and happy – it’s been a happy sad day!”

Not to be overshadowed by the retirement ceremony, the World Cup produced some fabulous tests and Hester came out on top with with another text-book ride to score of 84.66% aboard the 12-year-old gelding.

“This was the biggest atmosphere I have ever experienced at Olympia,” said the 49-year-old.

“Barney (Nip Tuck) was a little on edge, but I’m really pleased that in that atmosphere he kept with me.”

Dutchman Han Peter Minderhoud filled the runner-up spot with Glock’s Flirt, with his compatriot Edward Gal in third with Glock’s Voice.

Ireland’s Judy Reynolds and Vancouver K led the way after the judging break when performing a test with a huge level of difficulty and fantastic Christmas-themed music. The test was a huge hit with the sell-out London audience, producing an excellent score of 78.269%.

It was an incredible score for the Irish pair considering they only recently made the difficult transition to a new freestyle routine and it was just a fraction short of their Irish record of 79.70% set at Al Shaqab in Doha in March of this year.

Reynolds’ fourth place finish in London means she moves to the summit of the World Cup table on a total of 45 points after five of the nine rounds of the Western European league.

The result crowns an incredible year for Reynolds and Vancouver K, who are the first Irish combination to top the Western European Dressage World Cup league table – which is, by far, the most competitive region in world dressage.

Following a hugely impressive performance at the Olympic Games in Rio, the 35-year-old and Vancouver K, who is owned by her parents Joe and Kathleen Reynolds, scored a World Cup win at Devon, USA, in October, and a top seven finish in another World Cup show at in Stuttgart in Germany.

During the past 12 months the pair have also scored Grand Prix wins at Achleiten in Austria and also at the Central Park Horse Show in New York.

The next leg of the Western European league takes place in Amsterdam on January 28th, 2017.