Dressage-News

WELLINGTON, Florida, Dec. 11, 2014–The prize lists for the Adequan Global Dressage Festival of seven CDIs and nine national shows over three months with a total of more than $650,000 in prize money are now available.

Beginning with the initial World Cup event Jan. 8-11 through to the CDIO3* Nations Cup Mar. 26-28 the prize lists are available at http://www.foxvillage.com/fvdshowresults/%28oqkryk2ffpxouoifvx4iiied%29/Show.aspx.

This will be the fourth year of GDF at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center Stadium complex and is held in conjunction with the Winter Equestrian Festival of jumping and hunters on the same show grounds.

“I am incredibly proud to see how the Adequan Global Dressage Festival has grown since its inception and I look forward to its continued success this season,” said Mark Bellissimo, chief executive officer of Equestrian Sport Productions that organizes the shows.

“With the support of Adequan and the many other dedicated sponsors at AGDF, we have worked from the beginning to inspire the sport of dressage in America and take it to the next level. Each year brings further evolution, and we look forward to watching the incredible competition that unfolds during this year’s event.”

The CDI schedule:

-Jan. 8-11–$50,000 CDI-W World Cup qualifier;
-Jan. 22-25-$50,000 CDI World Cup qualifier;
-Feb. 5-8-$200,000 CDI5*;
-Feb. 19-22-$120,000 CDI4*;
-Mar. 5-8-$50,000 Palm Beach Dressage Derby World Cup qualifier;
-Mar. 12-15-$50,000 World Cup qualifier, and
-Mar. 26-28-$35,000 CDIO3* Nations Cup.

The Nations Cup is the only non-championship senior team competition in the Western Hemisphere and its unique format of mixed Big Tour/Small Tour combinations is designed as preparation for next July’s Pan American Games in Toronto as a qualifier for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The headline events for the seven international weeks total $555,000 in prize money, but purses for other classes held sinultaneously such as lower rated CDIs or junior and young rider classes will bring total prize money close to to $700,000. That is up from the 2013 total purse of $594,000.

The success of GDF is attracting a growing number of Europeans, among them Great Britain’s Olympic team gold medalist Laura Tomlinson, Christoph Koschel on Germany’s 2010 World Equestrian Games team, Sweden’s six-time Olympian Tinne Vilhelmsson-Silfvén who has competed in Wellington during winter for the past several years, Spain’s Daniel Martin Dockx and Germany’s Michael Klimke, son of the late Dr. Reiner Klimke.

Laura Graves on Verdades as well as World Games team mate Steffen Peters based in San Diego, California are scheduled to compete along with several top Canadian riders and the Florida-based Lars Petersen and Mikala Gundersen of Denmark.

A newly created CDI Amateur international division will be introduced during the first week of competition and will be offered in every CDI.

“There many exceptional Amateur riders paired with exceptional horses, yet they lacked the confidence to step into the onternational light of the CDI ring, which is viewed as the professional division.” said show manager Lloyd Landkamer.

“The FEI created this division to encourage these riders to participate in this international format to develop the confidence to go forward in representing their countries.

“I look forward to seeing the development of this division as it will bring new faces into the winner’s circle. It will add new heroes and inspiration to the sport.”