Paris Olympics 2024: Scarborough's Charlotte Fry makes the cut to reach dressage finals

Fry and her stallion Glamourdale are the reigning world champions and they posted a test score of 78.913%, although it was not good enough to secure an automatic place in Sunday’s individual final, the Grand Prix Freestyle, as both Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Isabell Werth registered higher marks.

However, with the top two from each of seven groups going through, along with the six next best scores, Fry’s performance made the cut, as did Team GB who are sitting in third in the team contest.

Fry’s teammate Becky Moody, from Gunthwaite, near Barnsley, had already qualified by winning her group aboard Jagerbomb on Tuesday, while seven-times Olympian Carl Hester also qualifies among the six scores with his horse, Fame.

Fry said: “To go first on day two is always a little bit more challenging but he was absolutely incredible in there – I had a great ride, a great feeling. He just loved it, you could see it by his face when everyone was cheering for him, he just loved every second.

“It was an important test for us, being the qualifying for the team and individual, so I think what we have done has put us in a really good place as a team.”

Team GB’s equestrian preparations were severely impacted by the withdrawal and subsequent provisional suspension of dual Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin following the publication of a video from four years ago which showed her repeatedly hitting a student’s horse with a whip from the ground during a coaching session.

Moody was brought in as Dujardin’s replacement and Fry feels the team has pulled together in response, saying: “It was definitely upsetting for all of us, but we are lucky to have such a great support team and the team we have here has been incredible, I think it’s brought us closer together.

“We’re really getting behind each other and very close as a team. To have such great support was amazing, so we were all able to keep our focus on what we need to do.”

Asked how the public’s trust in the sport could be won back, Fry added: “I think the support I had in there today was absolutely incredible with the GB flags and everyone cheering, it was an amazing feeling, so I think that’s all there is to it.”