Australian team lines up for Dressage Nations Cup in Florida

The Australian Nations Cup team competing in Wellington consists of Jemma Heran and her own Total Recall; Hope Beerling and Dean Martin, owned by NorCordia USA; and Sally Lofting riding Gigi, owned by Janet Rubino of the USA.

Olympian Kelly Layne is the Chef d’Equipe for this competition, while Dr Christopher Elliott brings another Aussie element to the event as the show’s Veterinary Service Manager (VSM).

All three athletes will be competing in the Grand Prix on Thursday 20 February. Hope and Sally will then be competing in the Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday 21 February, and Jemma will contest the Grand Prix Special on Saturday 22 February.

Aussie CDIO3* Grand Prix start times:

Sally Lofting and Gigi: 2.47pm, 20 February (local time) / 6.47am, 21 February AEDT

Hope Beerling and Dean Martin: 3.32pm, 20 February (local time) / 7.32am, 21 February AEDT

Jemma Heran and Total Recall: 4.32pm, 20 February (local time) / 8.32am, 21 February AEDT

View the full draw and start list for the CDIO3* Grand Prix here.

Watch all the action via ClipMyHorse.TV here.

Jemma Heran and Total Recall won the CDI3* Grand Prix Special at AGDF 3 last month. Image by Susan J Stickle Photography.

Previous Nations Cup experience

All three riders have Nations Cup team experience, having competed for Australia in Wellington back in 2023. On that occasion, both Big Tour and Small Tour entrants were allowed; Jemma rode Total Recall in the Big Tour, while in the Small Tour, Sally rode Quinlan CF and Hope rode Uno Elando. The Australian team placed fifth.

Just last month, Jemma had great success recently with Total Recall, claiming her first international Grand Prix victory with the gelding in winning the CDI3* Grand Prix Special during week three of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington. The pair recorded a PB score of 69.021% on that occasion, and were also third in the CDI3* Grand Prix on a score of 67.630%.

Sally Lofting has been based in the USA for many years, originally competing in the discipline of eventing. She has been competing at international-level dressage for the past decade, with this Nations Cup event in Wellington set to be her first international (CDI) Big Tour competition. Earlier this month, Sally and Gigi competed in a Grand Prix test for an impressive 68%.

Hope Beerling is certainly no stranger to Nations Cup competitions, having also been on an Australian team in 2021 as a Small Tour competitor.

Hope – who is based in the US but hails from Cooroy in Queensland – has built a reputation as a talented rider and trainer of young horses. In 2023, she placed in the top ten of the 7YO Final at the FEI/ WBFSH Dressage World Breeding Championship for Young Horses in Ermelo, the Netherlands with Vianne – a horse she broke in and trained from a three-year-old for NorCordia (an equine investment company cofounded and owned by Catherine Haddad Staller in conjunction with Denmark’s Ulrik Clemmensen). The mare has since been sold and competed at the Paris Paralympics with an American rider.

Hope Beerling competing for Australia at the FEI Nations Cup event in Wellington, Florida with Uno Elando in 2023. Image by Susan Stickle.

While Hope has competed several times at international level in Small Tour and Young Horse classes, this current Nations Cup event in Wellington will be her first international (CDI) level Big Tour competition.