Sept. 27, 2026
The Made in America Sonata MF ridden by Kevin Kohmann to victory in the World Cup North American season opening Freestyle was the second highest score by an American combination this year.
The performance by Kevin and the 11-year-old mare for a result of 77.105% in their first Grand Prix Freestyle was second in 2026 only to Christian Simonson on Indian Rock, according to a review of all CDI Grand Prix in which Americans participated.
Indian Rock was competed on the Dutch team at the 2024 Olympics and the 2022 World Championships before being sold to Zen Elite Equestrian Center in May 2025 and ridden by Christian to World Cup reserve champion ain April this year.
Much of what Sonata experienced was new to the mare that Kevin described as having “a heart of gold.”
Sonata was born at Marydell Farm in Columbus, North Carolina–close by the Tryon show grounds–by Sir Donnerhall I out of a Don Principe dam. The breeding by Maryanna Haymon was the same as for her sister, Serenade MF, owned by Alice Tarjan and competed by her on both sides of the Atlantic in 2022-23 before being sold.
Sonata was successful as a seven-year-old when ridden by Amanda Perkowski who then developed her to Small Tour over the following year.
Terri Kane, the mother-in-law of Kevin and owner of Diamante Farms in Wellington, Florida, bought Sonata at the end of last year.
Before the first competition with the mare, Kevin completed his third straight World Cup Final appearance on the Diamante-owned .
A month later, he competed Sonata in a CDI at TerraNova on Florida’s west coast for the first time for a double victory, then a second time at Ocala a couple of weeks later.
A break of four months over the summer and the duo returned to become a factor in the U.S. dressage effort to return to international success ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Freestyle was the first for Sonata at Grand Prix, the American-themed music selected by Terri and her daugher, Devon, married to Kevin and in the same competition on Vamos.
Meantime, the pair have eight more opportunities to earn results, with top three counting, that could send Kevin to his fourth Final. That will be staged in Gothenburg, Sweden next March.
