With his country already in front at the halfway stage following good results from first-line rider Emile Faurie and Elmegardens Marquis, and the new British star partnership of Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, 44-year-old Hester racked up a score of 82.568, which left him with the leading individual mark of the competition.

Indeed, Hester and Uthopia produced a breath-taking test, as the stallion sprang off the ground in his first extended trot that earned an average score of 9.6 and set the tone for the rest of the performance, which included lovely piaffe, pirouette and tempi changes.

The final extended trot was so extravagant that it drew gasps from the sidelines and 10s from the judges.

By the time last-line British rider, Laura Bechtolsheimer with Mistral Hojris, went into action the fate of the 2011 gold medals was already decided so she was only riding for an individual finishing spot that would earn her a place amongst the top-30 who will line out in Saturday's Grand Prix Special for the Individual medals.

Her score of 77.280 was good enough for individual fifth place, behind teammate Dujardin who kicked off the British success the previous day.

The result is a triumph for British Dressage, which over the last three years, have risen up the ranks and now look like the most threatening force in the sport ahead of next year's Olympic Games on their home turf.

"Some of us have seen Great Britain through the dark days - 20 years ago this would never have seemed possible - so it's a truly historic moment for us, and London should be a sell-out now," Hester said.

Germany pipped the Netherlands by just over three points in the battle for the silver medals, as Isabell Werth's test with El Santo NRW slotted her temporarily into individual second place with a score of 75.213.

"I was unhappy with the piaffe, but the rest was very good", she commented afterwards.

Teammate Matthias Alexander Rath was pleased with his score of 79.453 with Totilas, the horse that set the world of dressage alight with spectacular performances for Holland's Edward Gal during the FEI European Championships at Windsor two years ago.

The 27-year-old German has the unenviable task of following in Gal's record-breaking footsteps, but he showed that his relationship with the great stallion is growing stronger and more secure.

He admitted that he feels under pressure every time he goes in the ring, but said that being at these championships is no different to anywhere else.

"There is always pressure riding Totilas, but he always tries his best for me and he tries not to make mistakes," Rath pointed out.

Rath was pushed down the order by the Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen and Jerich Parzival, last to go in the entire competition, who, with 81.155 slotted into individual second spot ahead of the German rider.

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