GB's Charlotte Dujardin triumphs at World Equestrian Games

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro won the dressage Grand Prix Special at the World Equestrian Games, setting up a bid for freestyle gold on Friday.

The special test is an event in its own right but also a qualifier for the showpiece freestyle test, set to music.

Dujardin scored 86.120%, well clear of Germany's Helen Langehanenberg who recorded 84.468% for second.

"It was a great ride. I had no team members to worry about, I thought I'd just go for everything," said Dujardin.

Dujardin and Valegro had already been instrumental in securing Britain team silver in Normandy on Tuesday, which also guarantees Britain's place at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Their score in Wednesday's special was the highest ever achieved by a horse and rider in that event at a World Equestrian Games - despite a bowel movement from Valegro mid-routine.

"I made three expensive mistakes - he needed to go to the toilet at the wrong time," admitted Dujardin, 29.

"That does happen but it's a bit easier if you're cantering or doing something else, not walking and trying to go into piaffe. That's not the easiest move - it was just unfortunate.

"The crowd were very hard to deal with. All I could hear were gasps, whether I did a good thing or a bad thing. I could hear the crowd the whole time in my head and it was very hard to concentrate."

Fellow British rider Carl Hester and Nip Tuck, an inexperienced horse making large strides in terms of performance, will join Dujardin in Friday's freestyle having finished 12th, as will Michael Eilberg and Half Moon Delphi in 13th.

"I love the freestyle and absolutely love my new music. I'm hoping I can pull it off here," Dujardin told BBC Sport.