LARA GRIFFITH feels she has sent a message to the GB selectors ahead of the Rio Olympics by finishing second to world number one Charlotte Dujardin in the Grand Prix Freestyle at the LeMieux National Dressage Championships.

Riding Rubin Al Asad (Rufus) at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire she posted a personal best score of 75.65% and was pipped only by a point for the top spot.

But Lara admits she is still kicking herself over personal errors in the earlier Grand Prix test which was combined with the Freestyle to produce the overall national champion. Otherwise she may have pulled off an astonishing victory over the apparently impregnable Dujardin.

“A lot of people will be looking at us in a different light now,” said Lara, who works with the currently-sidelined Olympic dressage team gold medallist Laura Tomlinson at the Ampney St Peter stables owned by Laura’s parents Dr and Mrs Bechtolsheimer.

“Rufus was amazing and on fire. His sixth place in the GP was entirely down to my mistakes.

“I made counting errors and messed up on four movements which were all for double marks so we lost a considerable number of points.

“But for my errors we would have had a much better GP score and may have won overall instead of finishing third, so I am still kicking myself.

But in the Freestyle she and Rufus put in a superb test bettered only by Dujardin riding Barolo. And Lara revealed that she had used a music score originally commissioned for Tomlinson’s former Olympic horse Mistral Hojris (Alf).

“It was a piece of music with a Scottish theme that I think Laura used only once in competition with Alf because he did not take to it. But it really suited Rufus and a number of the judges were very impressed.

“Of course, I wanted to win but that score helped us climb back up to finish where I was hoping.”

It wasn’t just the music that inspired Griffith but having Olympic champion Tomlinson in her corner.

“Laura’s father helped me when I finished third on Kristjan in Thursday’s very competitive Prix St Georges and then Laura, who can’t compete because of a cracked rib, came down at the weekend.

“She has the ability to prepare me to be spot on and gives me so much confidence going into the ring.”

Lara added that she was delighted with the performance of Kristjan, a home-bred 10-year-old of the Bechtolsheimers.

“I could not have been more thrilled with Kristjan,” she said. “He is quite a character and sometimes throws in some moves of his own that are not in the script.

“He was only a wild card entry as he had not done enough to qualify and yet he was beaten only by two quite experienced horses. It was his best performance at a championship for sure.”

The horses are now being given a two-week break before being built up again for the winter season which may start for Lara with indoor competitions in France and Holland before the end of the year.