Great Britain’s Claire Gallimore (16) and Gigolo achieved fifth place in both the individual test and kür at the FEI European Pony Championships, Bishop Burton College, 28 July – 1 August. After Britain finishing a hair’s breadth behind a bronze medal in the team championship, Gallimore and Gigolo, a 12-year-old German-bred gelding by Going East, went on to produce two polished performances bringing her well within site of the individual medal zone. The talented combination scored 71.42% in the individual and 74.10% in the kür. “He was a little bit hot in the team test,” explained Gallimore, “but on the second day I knew what to expect. Our warm-up went well and in the arena he was just on the edge – he was in a really good place.”
Riding to their ‘Born Free’ compilation of music, the talented partnership earned 74.10%, just over two percent behind the bronze medal position. “I was very happy with our freestyle,” said Gallimore, “there were a couple of mistakes and his walk was a little hurried, which was expensive, but his canter was really uphill and off my leg – he felt fantastic.”
Gallimore, who is in her final year of Ponies before moving up to Juniors added: "The Championships were so good and the atmosphere was amazing. It was so great to have a home crowd with so many British supporters.”