THE final event of the opening day of para dressage at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at the Château de Versailles saw an emotional triumph for Latvia’s Rihards Snikus in his fourth Paralympic Games, going one better than Tokyo 2020 to take gold in Grade I.

The 36-year-old, who won silver in both the Individual and Freestyle events in Tokyo, turned in a brilliant display partnering King of the Dance to triumph with a score of 79.167%.

“It was a really beautiful performance, we enjoyed watching it,” said Latvia’s chef d’equipe Darja Tikhomirova, speaking on behalf of Snikus, who is also the reigning Grade I world champion and an active DJ in his spare time. “I think it was one of Rihards’ best ever performances. After Tokyo, we came home and said, ‘okay, next time let’s get gold’.”

USA’s Roxanne Trunnell, the double individual gold medallist from Tokyo, had to settle for silver on Fan Tastico H after finishing on 78.000%.

She paid tribute to the influence on US fortunes of Michel Assouline, who spent 12 years as head coach of Great Britain’s para equestrian team before joining Team USA in 2017 as head of para equestrian coach development and high performance consultant.

“He is really good,” Trunnell said. “He got us all straightened up, training harder, with better horses. We have evolved our training and been working so hard. It’s nice to see it pay off.”

Italy’s Sara Morganti, on Mariebelle, collected her third Paralympic Games bronze medal – after two in Tokyo partnering Royal Delight - on a score of 74.625%.

Over the moon

Michael Murphy went into the Games as Ireland’s greatest medal hope with Cleverboy after winning a world and European medal in the past two years. On this occasion, a lovely test and a score of 70.417% saw them agonisingly miss out on a spot in the Freestyle final by less than half a mark.

Murphy was over the moon with his horse. “Everything went to plan, it was the ride of my life. I am emotional,” he said afterwards. “It was incredible, he was amazing in there, I owe a massive thanks to my whole support team. It’s been an amazing Olympics so far.

“The first day in Tokyo didn’t go to plan, I lost a rein and Cleverboy really looked after me that day, so it was really nice to go in on day one this time and ride properly, especially in such an amazing arena.

"In the four years I’ve been working with Cleverboy he has taken me around the world, and to heights I could never have imagined. I’m so happy.”

High Performance director Debora Pijpers added: “I honestly couldn’t be happier with Michael’s performance out there – I don’t think he could have done much more, to be honest.”

In Grade II, USA’s Fiona Howard took gold on Diamond Dunes in her debut Paralympic Games with a superb performance to finish on 76.931%, ahead of Denmark’s Katrine Kristensen on Goerklintgaards Quater (73.966%) in silver and Britain’s Georgia Wilson on Sakura in the bronze medal position (73.414%).