Christian Simonson with Wellington Victory on Indian Rock Clinches World Cup Final Start
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Jan. 9, 2026
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Christian Simonson clinched a start in the World Cup Final with victory on Indian Rock outdoors under lights for the first time for a personal best score before a packed Global Dressage Festival stadium Friday night.
Christian and the 13-year-old stallion scored 81.445% to complete qualification with a maximum of 60 points for three victories. He is the first to claim one of the three spaces reserved for North America in the lineup of 18 combinations from around the world that will compete at Fort Worth, Texas for the annual championship.
It will also be the first senior international championship for Christian.
Christian at age 23 is likely the youngest ever rider from North America to earn a start at the Final launched 40 years ago. Isabell Werth of Germany, the most successful equestrian in history, competed Fabienne in her first Final in 1992 when she was a month younger than Christian now is.
The result for Christian, based in Wellington and coached by Olympic silver medalist Adrienne Lyle, came a day after riding Indian Rock to a Grand Prix score of 76.043%. That was the highest at that level for an American rider since Adrienne posted 77% on Salvino at the same Global grounds three years ago.
Geñay Vaughn who drove for four days with Gino from her California home seeking her second World Cup Final, rode the 15-year-old gelding to a score of 75.790% for second place. It was the same placing as the Grand Prix. Geñay and Gino showed at the 2025 Final in Switzerland.
She may return home to compete in the World Cup qualifier in Del Mar at the end of February, a week after the second of three qualifiers in Wellington. The last qualifier of 10 in North America is at Wellington Mar. 10-15.
Ashley Holzer also of Wellington placed third on Hawtins San Floriana, a 14-year-old British-bred mare, with a score of 75.010%.
“Absolutely disbelief,” Christian explained of shaking his head at the end of the musical performance that logged the eighth win in eight starts since the pair began Big Tour in May last year.
“Seeing this show, coming to this show. I’ve watched it on live streams. I’ve been here in person, and I’ve said multiple times to my family, ‘I really hope one day I get to do Friday Night Lights, because I think that’s the epitome of amazing dressage freestyles here in Florida.’
“And so I think on that last center line, I was just thinking to myself, ‘whoa, this is me doing this with the Indian Rock. I can’t believe this just happened…, and it was a clean freestyle, and I just shaking my head because the amount of gratitude and how thankful I am for Rocky and the team and everyone. It felt like such a special moment that all came in at once on the center line. And that’s why I just couldn’t believe any of it.”
The score, her said, “was also a bit surreal, I must say. This whole weekend’s been just crazy. I think for Adrienne, I owe so much to her. I’ve been with her for so long, and from Young Riders to U25 to now doing this with Indian Rock. I constantly think in the ring to myself, what would Adrienne say right now? What would Adrienne say right now? I just try to execute on what Adrienne would say.
“And so to be able to do that for her and hopefully make her proud and the team proud, it just meant everything. It’s weird seeing a childhood dream come true in real time today in 2026. So that’s kind of the cloud that I’m on right now.”
World Cup qualifiers are one of several features at Global this year that includes a masterclass of Kyra Kyklund, Cathrine Dufour and Jan Brink the same week as the top rated CDI5* Jan. 21-25 capped by the Nations Cup Mar. 18-22.
Indian Rock is owned by Zen Elite Equestrian of Ft. Lauderdale, an hour south of Wellington. Zen, owned by entrepreneur Heidi Humphries has bought numerous horses and sponsored some key aspects of the sport in an effort to spur renewed growth of dressage in America.
Zen is also the sponsor of dressage at Fort Worth.
The horse was developed by Emmelie Scholtens who competed the stallion on Dutch teams at the 2022 World Championships, 2023 Europeans and the Paris Olympics in 2024 before the sale to Zen Elite.
Kevin Kohmann is currently the second ranked in North America with 52 points and Benjamin Ebeling third on 49 points, both from the U.S. and each with three competitions. Neither competed in this week’s qualifier.
Results:
| Rank | Competitor | Score | E | H | C | M | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Christian Simonson (USA) Indian Rock | 81.445% | 81.950 | 82.575 | 81.475 | 79.800 | 81.425 |
| 2. | Geñay Vaughn (USA) Gino | 75.790% | 76.725 | 75.150 | 76.875 | 75.950 | 74.250 |
| 3. | Ashley Holzer (USA) Hawtins San Floriana | 75.010% | 76.825 | 74.825 | 76.575 | 72.375 | 74.450 |
| 4. | Caroline Darcourt (SWE) Lord Django | 74.695% | 76.125 | 74.500 | 72.225 | 75.950 | 74.675 |
| 5. | Michael Klimke (GER) Harmony’s Fado | 71.445% | 70.675 | 70.550 | 69.825 | 74.000 | 72.175 |
| 6. | Susan Dutta (USA) Don Design DC | 69.020% | 67.050 | 67.575 | 69.425 | 72.325 | 68.725 |
| 7. | Eline Eckroth (USA) Daphne | 65.740% | 66.575 | 65.350 | 65.850 | 64.900 | 66.025 |
| EL | Chloe Gasiorowski (CAN) Sam Donnerhall | eliminated | |||||
 Find details on Equestrian Hub |
