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‘I still want a bit more!’ Becky Moody’s star still in the ascendancy after impressive European Dressage Championships freestyle

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • Becky Moody produced a stunning crowd-pleaser to score 86.92% in the freestyle at the European Dressage Championships with the charismatic Jagerbomb to finish just outside the medals in fourth.

    Having burst on to the championship scene to win team bronze in Paris last year, Becky’s ambition is still growing.

    “I still want a bit more!” said Becky. “I want [to score] my personal best on a stage like this but I am so proud of ‘Bomb’, bless his little heart. I do think we have more in there; it’s a constant journey, we’re all trying to get better all the time.”

    Jagerbomb’s Beatles medley is a surefire way to get the crowd on side, with hits such as Sergeant Pepper for his canter, All You Need Is Love for his piaffe-passage, and walk tour to Here Comes the Sun. The whole crowd was clapping to her final line of I Want to Hold Your Hand.

    Besides being huge fun to watch, the programme was very difficult technically, kicking off with pirouettes down the centre line, but Becky pretty much nailed it – bar a tiny mistake in the two-times.

    “I still haven’t got the piaffe-passage I know we can have, and it was a foolish rider error in the twos, I wasn’t quite clear enough – they were feeling lovely and I was too blasé,” she said. “I could hear the crowd by the grandstand, even though the music is loud, you could hear them gasp [at the mistake].”

    Jagerbomb has been getting better and better throughout these championships, and this test was their absolute highlight – close to their personal best in a week when few pairs are hitting their peaks.

    Had the crowd been the judges, Becky would be in line for gold. They were on their feet by the end, whooping and cheering as Becky came to her final, smiling halt.

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

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