Charlotte Dujardin is back. And then some! For the first time since 2019, the three-time British Olympic gold medallist is competing at the CHIO Aachen again. Meanwhile as a mother and with a promising young horse in her luggage, as was shown today in the Prize of VUV-Vereinigte Unternehmerverbände Aachen, the Prix St. Georges.

Charlotte Dujardin brought the eight-year-old KWPN mare Times Kismet by Ampere to Aachen, in addition to her World Championship horse Imhotep. The two of them won the Prize of VUV-Vereinigte Unternehmerverbände Aachen with an outstanding score of 77.588 percent, almost four percent more than the judges awarded the rest of the field. That is a small margin in the dressage sport. Even though this is the mare’s first major tournament away from home.

Their history explains why this is not a problem: “I’ve had her since she just turned five. So, we have known each other for a long time and have been on the same path so far. That’s why our bond is very strong. She can be a bit of a moody mare at home. But she has a lot of trust in me, that she does everything for me. I take her by the hand and she says, ‘Okay, let’s do it’.”

But that is not the only reason why Charlotte Dujardin particularly enjoys riding Times Kismet. “She gives me a magical feeling. Riding a horse like that is a dream, that’s why we do it. I just sit on her back and basically don’t have to do anything.” And the quality is also on point: “She is very, very elastic, elegant, light-footed, a real ballerina. I really hope she stays healthy. I think she can be an Olympic horse.”

Today, Times Kismet already left some highly talented competitors behind her. Second place went to the pair that had won both tests of the small tour last year: Frederic Wandres on the Hanoverian gelding Quizmaster by Quasar de Charry. Today they scored 73.883 percent. Third place went to the pair that won the Nuremberg Burg Cup Final in December: the Swiss rider Andrina Suter, who rode the Westphalian Briatore by Belissimo M, an eight-year-old as well, with a score of 72.294 percent.