Selecting Team GB: What Our HPR Hot List Can Tell Us Ahead of the Europeans

Team GB will head to the European Championships as the ones to watch and with good reason. Fresh off their dominance at the Paris Games and boasting a nominated entries list stacked with talent, the Brits are likely to be the firm favourites. With so many combinations showing top-level form, and an abundance of horsepower and experience to draw from, it is a tough task to choose who should make the final team.

This is where EquiRatings can help. We’ll look at their top High Performance Rating in 2025 in an attempt to make sense of who should make the team.

What is the High Performance Rating (HPR)?

The HPR is an EquiRatings metric designed to measure the true quality of a performance. It accounts for key variables such as the strength of the field, winning margins, and course difficulty. This is important because not all wins or scores are created equal — HPR shines a light on those standout performances that rise above the rest, offering an objective gauge of which horses are delivering their very best results at the right time.

Who is on the British nominated entries list for the European Championships and who is performing at their best right now?

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo hardly need an introduction. Not only does their 108 from Badminton stand as the top British performance this season, it’s also the joint-best HPR of 2025 — equalling Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH’s effort at Kentucky. Despite leaking a few marks in the dressage, they moved from fourth to first by finishing on their dressage score. As reigning European individual champions, this partnership is nearly a sure bet for the team.

Cooley Rosalent, who tipped the pole that handed Ros the Badminton win, has posted two HPRs of 107 in her only two international outings this season. Both Badminton and the CCI4*-S at Burnham Market earned this impressive score — making them the highest-rated performances of Oliver Townend’s career. Even with nine five-star wins under his belt since 2008, these two efforts with Rosalent stand out on quality alone.

London 52 finished on a score of 20.9 at Bicton’s CCI4*-S at the end of May, earning a 106 HPR. This is one of those occasions where a high HPR aligns with an exceptionally low finishing score — it’s the third-best finishing score on British soil since 2008. Who holds the top two spots? None other than Laura and London 52 themselves. The pair’s ability to produce such low scores in the first phase is exactly the edge you want heading into a European Championships, and with this level of form, they are serious contenders for individual gold as well.

JL Dublin and Tom McEwen scored an impressive 106 when they won the CCI4*-S at Thoresby Park earlier this year. How good is a 106? Well, that’s exactly the HPR that JL Dublin earned when winning the European Championships in 2021 — then under Nicola Wilson — underlining that this horse has what it takes.

Everyone has heard of Cola, right? But Its Cooley Time’s HPR that is near the top of the list. Bubby Upton impressed at the horse’s first CCI4*-L at Bramham, finishing on a dressage score of 24.2 — and earning a strong HPR in the process. Still only 10 years old, this horse has already produced 6 podiums in 13 starts. It’s exactly the kind of exciting talent you’d want to send to a European Championships, gaining vital experience with an eye on future goals like Aachen 2026 and even LA 2028.

The beautiful unicorn — sorry, horse — Halo earned a 102 HPR when he won the CCI4*-S at Belsay in May. That performance was not only their best this year but their best ever together, proving this partnership is still on the rise. Despite Luhmühlen not going to plan, their 102 at Belsay actually rates higher than Ros Canter's Luhmühlen winning HPR, underlining that they’re still absolutely in the mix to produce something special at both championship and five-star level.

Izilot DHI scored a 101 HPR with his Luhmühlen win just two weeks ago, firmly putting himself in the mix for selection. If Ros opts to defend her Burghley title with Lordships Graffalo, bringing a two-time five-star winner like Izilot DHI is no back-up plan. He is one of the most talented horses in the sport right now, quirks and all. 

Valmy Biats’ top-rated performance this year came at Thoresby's four-star, where they placed 5th. Their Badminton result also caught our (and seemingly, the selectors) eye — finishing 5th at one of the toughest five-stars on the calendar. These two performances prove the Queen Teen is a serious contender.

Cavalier Crystal — the finish-on-dressage machine — posted a 99 HPR with her 4th-place finish at Badminton this year. It matches Harry Meade’s best-ever performance according to HPR (since 2008). Can he break the 100 barrier? Harry Meade is a master at peaking at exactly the right moment, so if he makes the Europeans, you wouldn’t bet against him doing it there for the very first time.

The good thing abut Harry having two horses on this list means that no matter what happens he is a serious contender for Burghley — and if Diarmuid Byrne has anything to say on this, it is that Harry will win it. Et Hop Du Matz earned a 98 HPR for his podium finish at Kentucky, a big jump up from his previous best of 89. That kind of progress proves this 11-year-old is still on the rise and has plenty more to come.

MHS Seventeen posted a 97 HPR with a fifth-place finish at Belsay, setting the tone with a 26.9 dressage — exactly the kind of score you want at a European Championship. Being Ros’s third horse on this list means it’s less likely we’ll see them at the Europeans this time around, but it’s still encouraging to see new talent breaking through and earning a place on the radar. 

Gemma Stevens made the trip over to Millstreet worthwhile when she delivered a 97 HPR-winning performance with Flash Cooley in the CCI4*-L. This makes them one of the few combinations on this list to post their best score at a long-format event — a noteworthy observation, given that the European Championship will also take place over the long format.

It feels strange to see the four-time five-star winner this far down the list — but let’s not overlook that a 97 HPR is still enormous, and a score most of us could only dream of. Will this ever-consistent campaigner earn one more shot at representing Team GB or is he going to be overshadowed by his younger stablemate Cooley Rosalent?

Cooley Mosstown earned a 96 HPR when he finished second at Bramham CCI4*-L — just behind Bubby Upton and Its Cooley Time — at his first long-format four-star. Previously a podium finisher at Blenheim last year and boasting a perfect jumping record across country, not only that, but the horse is fast. He looks like one of the sport’s rising stars at only nine-years old.

D.Day has posted two 95 HPRs from two international runs this year, proving he’s still on top form after his Pau five-star win last season. With two horses with strong form in the mix, it would be great to see Caroline go to her first European Championship.

Tom McEwen's second horse on the list is Brookfield Quality who completed Kentucky 5* on a 92 HPR. Although the combination's 5th place was impressive, he is probably still likely to be th back up to JL Dublin.

Cola has had just one international run this year — a top-10 finish at Badminton earning him an 89 HPR. With that being his only outing so far, all eyes will be on what his plan is heading into the Europeans. He’s undoubtedly a horse with championship credentials, but with stablemate Its Cooley Time’s recent win and standout 102 HPR, Cola might have a bit of competition for the spotlight.

Rehy DJ's fifteenth place at Thorseby was good enough for an 89 HPR.  Having been the fourth rider on the three-man Olympic team, Yas must be determined to ride at the Europeans this year. With previous HPR's into the 100s, they haven't quite hit the top of their form this year. But you know what they say about peaking too early...

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