Belgium’s Justin Verboomen and Zonik Plus laid on the wow factor to win gold in the European Dressage Championships freestyle medals at Jiva Hill Stables in France. Under cloudless skies, at the foot of the Jura Mountains, this pair danced their way to the top of the podium with 89.96%.

Justin, 38, is a man who lets his performance do the talking and he was almost speechless in trying to describe the enormity of what he had achieved with the horse he found as a two-year-old.

“I can’t believe it at all!” he said. “This second victory is really a surprise for me. I’m so proud of my horse – he’s so young.”

As in the grand prix special, it was a three-way fight for the medals, between Justin, silver medallist Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Isabell Werth in bronze, but the placings remain

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