Wednesday October 16, 2002

Nicky Barrett, British Dressage Champion 2002

Barrett Wins First British Dressage Title

In the Butcher's Pet Care Grand Prix Championship Nicky rode Stephen Butt's 16.1hh chestnut gelding Giorgio S to victory by a narrow margin, winning by just 0.16% with a score of 67.56%. The next day Nicky and Giorgio S entertained the crowds with their display to music in the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Freestyle Championship, scoring 73.37% to win the class.

With the highest combined score from these two classes Nicky, who is trained by the Dutch Henk van Bergen, was crowned Mercedes-Benz National Dressage Champion 2002 and was delighted to receive the coveted prize of a luxury 163hp Mercedes-Benz SLK 200 Kompressor roadster to drive for a year.

Speaking about her performance Nicky said: " Giorgio S did everything I asked him. The freestyle test was the best test we could have done so I just had to wait and see what the judges thought. I'm absolutely thrilled."

In a former life, Giorgio S (Graf Lehndorff x Wendulan) was trained to Prix St Georges level by Isabell Werth and formerly owned by Dr Uwe Schulten Baumer. "Giorgio came to me having been ridden by Isabell Werth two years ago and it's taken us longer than I originally thought to become a partnership in the arena," Barrett explained. "I thought it would take up to a year, as he can be difficult and naughty but I refused to give up because he had cost his owners so much money in the first place!"