Charlotte Dujardin's score of 82.983 in the dressage Grand Prix Special helped secure team competition silver for Great Britain at the Olympic Equestrian Centre.
Dujardin, who led the individual standings on Valegro after Thursday's action, finished just behind Germany's Isabell Werth in the rankings on Friday to qualify for Monday's freestyle event, where individual medals will be decided.
Germany took gold in the team competition, with an average of 81.936, over three points higher than Great Britain in second. Dujardin admits she made a small mistake in her final run, but insists even without it the gold medal was out of reach. "I haven't ridden [the Grand Prix] test since the European Championships last year. I probably should have practised it a bit more, but [Valegro] is such a genius," Dujardin said. "The last two rounds have been fantastic and it's a huge privilege to be riding alongside these guys. "We have new music for the freestyle, which will hopefully go to plan. I just want to go out there and enjoy myself and give Valegro a good time."
Rider and team coach Carl Hester admits the presence of Dujardin's horse Valegro gives the rest of the team the confidence to compete at their best, knowing that the London 2012 individual competition gold medallists will invariably score highly.
“For the future of British dressage, the fact that we’ve been able to medal again, with a new member again on our team, it’s fantastic.
“It’s fantastic that we can continue bringing new members onto the team because at some point Valegro isn’t going to be here. We rely heavily on him, but what he has done is give every other rider that comes on the team the confidence to ride because we know we’ve got him.”