Wellington 2017 CDIO3* Nations Cup Down to Three Teams, Fewest Since Created

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Three teams will compete in the Wellington CDIO3* Nations Cup this year so each country will win a medal. © 2017 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 16, 2017–The CDIO3* Nations Cup will have only three teams this year, by far the fewest since the event was created at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival five years ago as the first senior team competition outside Europe.

Canada, Spain and the United States are the only countries with teams for the Nations Cup that kicks off the second year of the official trans-Atlantic series.

The latest blow to the starting lineup was loss of two members of a prospective German team–Michael Klimke had two riding accidents that ended his Florida circuit and a departure earlier than scheduled by Christoph Koschel when the flight to take his horses home was moved up by three days.

Australia, which had fielded a team since founding of the Florida event in 2013, rejected a request by its United States-based riders to again enter the CDIO3* that is a mix of Big and Small Tour combinations.

In the four four previous years, two events had teams from seven nations and two had teams from six countries.

This year is a so-called non-championship year in the Americas with no Olympics, world championships or Pan American Games.

The United States won the series in 2016 and plans to compete in as many of the six Nations Cups scheduled for Europe from May through July as part of a yearslong development program and to build team spirit at all levels of the sport.