Charlotte Dujardin, who has won multiple Olympic medals, celebrated her return on competitive dressage with an elegant triumph at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
Two months after giving birth to her daughter Isabella, the 37-year-old returned to the spotlight on Windsor’s opening day.
With a score of 77.261 percent, she dominated the four-star grand prix division while riding Imhotep.
That turned out to be over 2% better than Classic Briolinca’s jockey Gareth Hughes, who finished second. Emile Faurie and Bellevue finished third.
Dujardin and cyclist Dame Laura Kenny hold the record for the most Olympic medals earned by a British woman.
Dujardin captured two golds at London 2012 and another gold in Rio four years later. She also has two bronze medals and one silver in her collection.
On Thursday, she will take part in the freestyle to music lesson at Windsor once more.
Dujardin said: “I haven’t done anything competition-wise for eight months, and I have only been back on board for three weeks. I was thinking ‘have I still got it? Can I still do it?’
“And I got on and felt amazing. I have tried to stay as fit as possible, and then we decided to give Windsor a go.
“I want to try and aim for the European Championships this year. Imhotep did so well at the world championships last year, and he is a horse with so much positive energy.”
Born on July 13, 1985, Charlotte Susan Jane Dujardin is a British dressage rider, equestrian, and author. Dujardin, a multiple World and Olympic winner, is regarded as the best dressage rider of her time.
The individual Olympic freestyle, World freestyle, Grand Prix Special, World Cup individual dressage, and European freestyle and Grand Prix Special titles were all titles she once held for solo elite dressage. The first rider to simultaneously hold all one of these titles was Dujardin.
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