THE phenomenon that is Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro added another World Cup victory to their tally of Olympic, World and European titles in Las Vegas last April, leaving Edward Gal and Undercover trailing almost 10% in their wake. Dujardin’s dominance looked to be assured when she notched up winning 85+% scores in both the Grand Prix and the Special at Hartpury CDI in July, and the only question ahead of the Aachen European Championships appeared to be whether Britain could add team gold to the individual medals Dujardin would undoubtedly take home.

In the event, Dujardin and “Blueberry” made some uncharacteristic errors in the Grand Prix, on which the team result is based, although they nonetheless remained at the top of the leader board. Gal was a close second, and his score combined with the efforts of Hans Peter Minderhoud and Diderik van Silfhout allowed Holland to bring home the gold medal. Host nation Germany were left to take the bronze medal in the shadow of scandal, after an unlevel Totilas did not achieve his usual high scores and was withdrawn before the Special.