It is an impressive feat to, after obtaining the gold medal with Valegro at the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016, come back at the same level with a different horse! Reigning Olympic winner Charlotte Dujardin scored 80.963% with her new trump card Gio in their first test in Tokyo.   

Beautiful half-passes, a strong extended canter and lovely passages. Also, a test with very few errors. Despite her focus, the British rider rewarded Gio after the successful tempi changes every second stride.  

Apache-son 
Among all the long-lined and dark horses, the not so big but rather compact Gio certainly stood out from the crowd. The chestnut is bred by H.J. de Jong and Ad Valk. The Apache-son comes out of the elite mare Zenzi (s.Tango). She is also the dam of Enzos Armani. The Grand Prix-horse with whom Jill Huybregts is highly successful.  

More information about the KWPN-horses at the Olympic Games can be found on this overviewpage. 

AvdW for KWPN

Photo Gio: Dirk Caremans