Dressage-News

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Feb. 21, 2025–Evelyn Eger on Tabledance won the CDIO3* Grand Prix Freestyle on a personal best score a day after leading Germany to Nations Cup gold in her first year competing at the Global Dressage Festival. The win sent Evelyn to the top of the leaderboard of qualifiers for the $250,000 US Open Final in California in November.

The win on the 12-year-old Oldenburg mare on a score of 77.235% came as a “big surprise” to Evelyn on what she described as “an unbelievable evening.” competing under the lights with lots of atmosphere.

“The mare came today in the warm up and told me already, ‘I want to win’,” Evelyn said. “She was so relaxed and already in the warm up like fighting for me. So, yeah, I could enjoy the music, I could enjoy the audience and yeah, it was a perfect feeling today.”

U.S. judge Sarah Geikie sitting at C described Evelyn’s rider on the Totilas offspring this way: “I was really happily surprised because the first half of the test was like, this is nice, this is nice, and then you put all of your hard combinations and everything in the last part and I’m like, oh, oh. So I started sitting up straighter and I’m like, okay, here’s all these things. So it was a very interesting way that you put the choreography together to kind of get us on the edge of our chairs for the last part of the test. So, good job.”

Competing in Wellington, the rider said, is “super exciting, completely different world to Europe. I’m super happy to be here. My horses can grow from week to week. I think this is what makes Wellington so great. Everything is great here, but to have the horses regularly on the shows, they grow super good and that helps us.”

Team mate Felicitas Hendricks on Drombusch, the top prize winning combination on the Global circuit in 2024 with experience on three of Germany’s five gold medal teams in Wellington, was runner-up in the Freestyle on 75.130%.

“We had some very great highlights in today’s test,” she said, “I was happy with a lot of things. He’s a very sensitive horse, which makes him great for a freestyle horse. But first I didn’t ask for enough, then I asked for too much, which caused a little explosion. So that was unfortunate but again he’s a sensitive boy and I love that about him. That makes him very special.”

Devon Kane based in Wellington at her family’s Diamante Farms placed third on Vamos, a 13-year-old Westfalen gelding, was close behind with 75.125% for third. The duo led the United States to Nations Cup team silver a day earlier with her husband, Kevin Kohmann, also on the team.

“It’s pretty incredible,” she said, “it’s a great feeling. Definitely not what I expected but I couldn’t be more proud of everyone.

“This is our third freestyle under the lights and I have to say, when he walks out at night, he walks out different. He knows we’re going to dance and he really enjoys it. He lights up in there and he’s never let me down. He really enjoys the dancing and the music and he knows exactly what’s happening and he’s game on from the start.

“This was our best performance with the music and now he really has deserved his own music so now we go forward from that but there’s a lot of the choreography that I think I will keep similar or the same because he likes it he really enjoys it. He’s special in every way. He’s hot, he’s intense, he’s needy, he’s just special all around and he shines when he shines. So I’m blessed to be his mom and he really looks at me like that and he looks to me for guidance so I hope I keep giving him the right answers and asking the right questions.”

After both the CDIO3* and CDI3* Freestyle Friday night, standings for the US Open:

1. Evelyn Eger Germany 60 points
2. Felicitas Hendricks Germany 54
3. Karen Lipp  USA 50
4. Devon Kane USA 42
5. Geñay Vaughn USA 40
5. Denielle Gallagher Canada 40
5. Jennifer Williams  USA 40
8. Adrienne Lyle USA 37
8. Anna Marek USA 37
10. Kristina Harrison-Antell USA 34
10. Eline Eckroth USA 34

Results:

CDIO3* Grand Prix Freestyle

Rank	Competitor	Score	E	H	C	M	B
1.	Evelyn Eger (GER) Tabledance 3	77.235%	77.350	77.675	73.775	79.325	78.050
2.	Felicitas Hendricks (GER) Drombusch OLD	75.130%	77.050	76.025	72.475	76.325	73.775
3.	Devon Kane (USA) Vamos	75.125%	74.275	77.100	73.850	74.625	75.775
4.	Jennifer Williams (USA) Joppe K	74.390%	75.675	74.975	72.675	74.050	74.575
5.	Mathilde Blais Tétreault (CAN) Fedor	70.765%	71.075	72.050	71.675	67.725	71.300
6.	Hope Beerling (AUS) Dean Martin	70.575%	70.500	70.375	73.050	68.300	70.650
7.	Ava MacCoubrey (CAN) Don Camillo-S	68.295%	68.350	69.350	68.200	70.050	65.525
Find details on Equestrian Hub