LOTTIE Fry successfully defended the first of her individual world championship titles, which she won in Herning in 2022, when she and the black stallion Glamourdale topped the leaderboard in the Grand Prix Special at the FEI Dressage World Championships at Aachen last Friday afternoon.

The class came to a dramatic conclusion with the first of the likely medal contenders, Denmark’s Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour riding Mount St John Freestyle, making some uncharacteristic errors in their test. Having topped the leaderboard by a considerable margin in the Grand Prix, which decided the team medals earlier in the week, Laudrup-Dufour and her 17-year-old mare were the favourites to take the first individual title.