Faultless Faurie

Emile Faurie and Bellevue's mistake-free performance secures them an emotional freestyle win while “family horse” Goldstrike continues to step up

- MARTHA TERRY

Royal Windsor CD14*, Windsor Castle, Berks

EMILE FAURIE and his exciting mare Bellevue smashed their personal best to win the Defender CDI4* dressage freestyle.

While judges weren't unanimous in placing them as the overall winners, their artistic mark of 80.16% was easily the best, giving them a final score of 76.28%. Lewis Carrier and Diego V, third here last year, settled for second on 75.16%, with Singaporean rider Caroline Chew and Blue Hors Zatchmo third (74.99%).

With this trio tightly bunched, errors were costly, and Emile capitalised on his mistake-free test.

Tom Hunt composed Emile's music for the Bordeaux mare, whom Emile has been competing internationally for 16 months.

"She's so elegant that you can't have anything too dramatic as it'll overpower her," said the two-time Olympian.

"I wanted something with a cinematic feel that created a bit of emotion but was still light and Tom delivered." And so did Bellevue. Their performance was powerful yet graceful, a pleasure to watch and earned rousing applause.

The pair's trajectory has been particularly remarkable as Emile has been undergoing cancer treatment, and just as he was picking up the reins again, Bellevue threw a splint.