Valegro (born 5 July 2002) is a gelding ridden by the British equestrian Charlotte Dujardin in the sport of dressage. He stands 16.2 hands (66 inches, 168 cm) and has the stable name of Blueberry. He is a double World Champion in Dressage, he won Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle at the World.[1]
Career
Having joined Carl Hester's stable in Newent, Gloucestershire as a groom, Dujardin was offered the opportunity to develop the novice Dutch Warmblood gelding by Hester and co-owner Roly Luard, with the later intention of the horse being ridden in competition by Hester.[2]
Valegro remained unbeaten since CDI Kapellen in January 2012.[3]
The combination became part of the team which won gold in a European Dressage Championships event in Rotterdam. They then won the FEI World Cup grand prix at London Olympia in 2011, setting a world record for the Olympic grand prix special discipline scoring 88.022%, in April 2012.[4][5][6]
Selected to represent Great Britain in the 2012 Summer Olympics,[7] in the first round they set a new Olympic record of 83.784%.[8] On 7 August 2012 the pair were members of the team which won the gold medal in the team dressage event.[9] Two days later they won the gold in the individual dressage event with a score of 90.089%.[10][11]
At the 2013 European Championships in Herning, Charlotte and Valegro won both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special with 85.94% and 85.69%.[12]
At Olympia 2013 he beat the Grand Prix Freestyle world record (by around 2%) he set the new record to 93.975% (the record was previously held by Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas). At Olympia 2014 he improved his own Grand Prix Freestyle world record (94.3%) and his own Grand Prix world record (87.46%).
Valegro also achieved a gold medal in the individual dressage at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with a score of 93.857%, and was an integral part of the Silver medal winning Team for Great Britain, at the same event. In 2016 Breyer released a model of Valegro.[13]
Retirement
On 14 December 2016, Valegro and Charlotte Dujardin marked his retirement from competition with a performance given at the London International Horse Show 2016 and televised live by the BBC.[14] It was followed by a farewell ceremony with Valegro's owners, and companions Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester and Alan Davies.[15]
Breeding
Valegro is sired by the legendary KWPN stallion Negro, by Olympic Ferro.
Furioso II is his great great damsire.[16]
See also
References
- ^ "Carl Hester.co.uk Carl's Horses". Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
- ^ "Equestrian: 'Unlikely winner' Charlotte Dujardin celebrates double gold". The Independent. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ "British Dressage". www.britishdressage.co.uk.
- ^ "Charlotte Dujardin triumphs in FEI World Cup grand prix". BBC Sport. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- ^ "London 2012: Charlotte Dujardin breaks dressage world record". BBC Sport. 29 April 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- ^ "Dujardin and Valegro take 2012CDA Hagen Grand Prix for special by storm". www.eurodressage.com. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- ^ "London 2012: Dressage riders Bechtolsheimer and Dujardin selected for Team GB". www.sportsister.com. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- ^ "London 2012: Charlotte Dujardin breaks Olympic dressage record". The Guardian
- ^ "Olympics equestrian: 20 gold medals for GB with dressage win". BBC Sport. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ "Olympics equestrian: Charlotte Dujardin wins second dressage gold". BBC Sport. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ "London Olympics: Dujardin wins individual dressage gold". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
- ^ "British Dressage". www.britishdressage.co.uk.
- ^ Buy Valegro at Olympia Horse Show
- ^ Horse & Hound, 30 November 2016 [1]
- ^ Carl Hester Does The Double As Valegro Retires In Style, Dec. 15, 2016 [2]
- ^ Michelson, Miles. "Valegro Kwpn". www.allbreedpedigree.com.
External links
- Valegro in action, 2016 (video)
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