DRESSAGE rider Lara Griffith, from Ampney St Peter, ended her two-month sojourn in Florida with a marvellous second place in the CDI-W Grand Prix Special as the Global Dressage Festival came to a close.

Griffith and her boss, the London 2012 team gold and individual bronze medallist Laura Tomlinson, decamped to Florida away from the chilly Cotswolds to help bring on their horses in the sun ahead of the European season.

Griffith, partnering her top horse Rubin Al Asad, who had also picked up podium places earlier in the Festival, posted an impressive score of 71.529 percent.

Griffith, who is part of the World Class Development Programme, produced an identical mark to the winning score from US rider Katherine Bateson Chandler aboard Alcazar, but were pipped to first place on the collective marks.

Lara tweeted: “Rufus (Rubin Al Asad) was totally awesome. Second place on collectives for 71.5 percent. He danced his socks off. So proud of him.”

Lara and the 13-year-old bay gelding also performed well in the earlier Grand Prix competition which saw 28 competitors battling for the top spot. A score of 70.220 percent secured the pair a fifth-place finish in the competitive class, with the win going to Denmark’s Mikala Gundersen and My Lady on 73.380 percent.

The World Class Development Programme, which features up-and-coming riders with potential to compete internationally, has been funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, through Exchequer and National Lottery fund via UK Sport since 1998.