BRITAIN has a new golden girl on their hands. At her first World Championships, 26-year-old Lottie Fry blew the judges and crowd away with a jaw dropping Grand Prix Special on Monday evening to win the individual gold medal with Glamourdale in Herning, Denmark.

In doing so, she kept Denmark’s darling Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Vamos Amigos at bay in second place, while The Netherlands’ Dinja van Liere took the bronze medal with Hermes.

“I feel like I am about to burst into tears any minute but I am the happiest person in the world. Glamourdale gave me everything in there, he really rose to it and gave me the most incredible test I’ve ever felt. I feel like the sky is the limit for him; He has always been so special, he is one in a million. It is a dream come true to ride him here.

The final session of seven horses was a truly a spectacle of dressage. Germany’s Benjamin Werndl was leading ahead of that final seven with Famoso OLD on 78.23% which would eventually be good enough to finish fifth. Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin, who won the title twice with the great Valegro, went into provisional second place with Imhotep after producing a nice test that had a few mistakes to finish on 77.52%.

Fourth last to go, Dinja van Liere took it up a notch with the powerful bay 10-year-old stallion Hermes. Despite a couple of big spooks, they went into the lead on 79.40% with just three left to go, but they were three special ones.

The Danish crowd held their breath as Laudruo-Dufour and Vamos Amigos started their test, a highlight of which was superb transitions and, as always, beautiful passage and piaffe work. However, there was a mistake in the twos which may have been costly, yet they scored a new personal best of 81.32% which most thought would won the gold medal.

Spectacular

However, young Lottie Fry had other ideas with Van Olst Horses’ phenomenal 11-year-old stallion Glamourdale who was a world champion at the seven-year-old World Breeding Championships in 2018. The jet black stallion oozes presence and his big movements – canter a particular stand out – as simply breathtaking.

Their first halt earned them nines and 10s from the judges and, from that point on, the high marks just kept flowing. Everything was big, powerful and accurate – the audience watched in rapt silence as a dressage masterclass unfolded before them. The trending scores didn’t drop below 80% and, in the middle, reached as high as +88% – the realms of Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro’s long-held world record. They received five 10s for their extended canter and finished with yet more 10s for their final halt before the crowd burst into applause.

A score of 82.50% was a new personal best for the pair and good enough to take the lead with just Isabell Werth, who high-fived Lottie as she left the arena, left to go. The German legend and defending champion never goes down without a fight and produced a wonderful test with the inexperienced DSP Quantaz to finish just off the podium on 79.03%.

Sky is the limit

Talking about Glamourdale, Lottie said: “The feeling as he goes into the arena is like no other, he’s just a massive showman and he takes me with him on that – it’s an incredible feeling to sit on him. He’s one in a million, I’ll never find one like him again. The future is also so exciting, this is his first senior championship and I feel like there is so much we can improve that it’s scary!”

The only worry from Sunday’s Grand Prix was her pirouettes which lost some marks, but Lottie had good advice overnight. “Anne van Olst, my trainer, was up the entire night worrying how I was going to fix those pirouettes, and I got a great tip from Isabell as well. And with the combination of both of them we got it done today! Isabell is literally the queen! She is amazing, she has inspired me since I was five years old so it’s incredible and she’s the nicest person, always cheering and supporting!”

The rise of Lottie Fry

SHE was destined for success. Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, dressage is in Lottie’s blood thanks to her mother, Laura Fry, who represented her country alongside Carl Hester and her Herning teammate Richard Davison – in fact, Laura and Richard were part of the team that won Britain’s first ever dressage team medal at the European Championship in 1993.

Lottie grew up sitting the side of the arena, watching her mum training, before taking to the saddle herself. Laura sadly passed away in 2012 after a battle with cancer and Lottie, who already had one Pony European Championship team appearance to her name, began to train with Carl Hester.

Carl was impressed with her potential but, there was already one talented Charlotte [Dujardin] on his yard, so he found Lottie a place with Anne van Olst in The Netherlands. Lottie joined Van Olst Horses as their stable jockey in 2014 and has never looked back. She now has a string of talented stallions at her disposal.

The year that she and Glamourdale won the seven-year-old World Breeding Championship was also the year she took home team bronze, individual silver and freestyle gold at the U25 European Championship. A senior team place came the next year for the FEI European Championship, followed in 2021 by an Olympic debut – and team bronze medal – and European team silver medal with Glamourdale’s half-brother Everdale.