Sept. 21, 2025
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Dressage at Devon this week opens the North American series of 10 qualifying competitions for the World Cup Final in Fort Worth, Texas next April and the first season with events in all three major continental nations–Canada, Mexico and USA.
The schedule to earn a start in the Final that likely requires points from three qualifying results has cut back to two the number of events in California that in recent years have attracted few entries so competitors earn higher points than they might in the more heavily competed East Coast shows.
And reflecting the popularity of the Florida winter circuit, five of the 10 qualifiers are in that state, three at the Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, one at TerraNova in Myakka City near Sarasota and one at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala.
The kickoff contest at Devon with the Grand Prix scheduled for Friday and the Freestyle that counts for points for Saturday night under lights has 17 entries, 12 from the United States, four from Canada and one from Portugal.
North Americans will be looking to become one of three from the region to line up with a total of 18 from around the world at the Final to be staged for the first time at Fort Worth April 8-12.
Four of the Americans, all based in Florida, have competed in previous championship Finals–Benjamin Ebeling on Indeed in 2024, Charlotte Jorst on Kastel’s Nintendo in 2016, Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee in 2024 and 2025, and Anna Marek on Fayvel in 2024.
Kevin is seeking to become the second from North America to earn a start in a third straight final on the same horse. Dünensee, a Hanoverian gelding, will be 17 years old by the time of the Final.
The horse, owned by Diamante Farms in Wellington, is in what amounts to a third phase in its career–an initial stage when Kevin and Dünensee didn’t gell, then sent to Europe to be sold but no takers, finally returned to Diamante where the partnership between Kevin and Dünensee clicked for the pair to earn starts in two World Cup Finals and American Nations Cup teams in both Europe and the USA.
Laura Graves on Verdades, the only American to rank No. 1 in the world, was reserve to German superstar Isabell Werth on Weihegold OLD for three consecutive years, 2017 through 2019.
Benjamin Ebeling will be on Bellena that have notched victories on both sides of the Atlantic this year, Charlotte Jorst will ride Zhaplin Langholt and Anna Marek on Fire Fly, her 2023 Pan American Games gold medal mount.
Two of the Canadians have competed on their nation’s Olympic teams–Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu at Tokyo on the now-retired All In and Camille Carier Bergeron at Paris on Finnlanderin.
Brittany is competing Jaccardo at Devon, the 11-year-old KWPN gelding on which she captured the prestigious Lövsta Future Challenge Young Horse Grand Prix title at Wellington six months ago. The horse is owned by fellow Canadian Jill Irving.
Camille will be on Finnlanderin, 15-year-old Oldenburg mare.
The North American schedule:
Sept. 23-28 Devon, Pennsylvania
Oct. 16-19 Myakka City, Florida
Nov. 7-9 Lerma, St Vincent, Mexico
Nov. 10-15 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dec. 10-14 Ocala, Florida
Dec. 18-21 Thermal, California
Jan. 7-11 Wellington, Florida
Feb. 18-22 Wellington
Feb. 26-Mar. 1 Del Mar, California
Mar. 10-15 Wellington
Fort Worth is the fourth city in the U.S. to be selected for a dressage Final–the others being Los Angeles in 1995, Las Vegas in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2015–2020 was scheduled for there but canceled because of Covid–and Omaha in 2017 and 2023.
Since the first Final in 1986, all others except for 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia have been staged in Western Europe.
Two Americans have been World Cup champions, Debbie McDonald on Brentina in 2003 and Steffen Peters on Ravel in 2009.
