Great Britain’s newly-crowned Olympic showjumping champion Ben Maher is planning for two special guests at his wedding this month – a gold medal and his wonder-horse Explosion W.

Maher will marry his American fiancee Sophie at home in Hertfordshire, with a gold medal now part of the family furniture and Explosion W stabled just 50 metres away.

Maher produced a dazzling display under the floodlights at Tokyo Equestrian Park to give Team GB its second successive Olympic individual showjumping champion following Nick Skelton’s success with Big Star in Rio five years ago.

“I cannot fault the horse, I am absolutely delighted with him. We will knuckle down and try to deliver a medal for the team (later this week).”

Charles, meanwhile, had four fences down on Romeo 88 and retired just before the end of his round, but it was a valuable experience for one of British showjumping’s most exciting young riders.

And Ireland’s trio of Cian O’Connor, Bertram Allen and Darragh Kenny also missed out, with O’Connor – like Brash – collecting a solitary time fault.