The 2025 FEI Dressage Nations Cup series season opener took place in Wellington, Florida on Thursday as part of the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (Week 7). Australia was one of five teams contesting the Nations Cup competition.
Jemma Heran and Total Recall were the highest placed Aussie combination, scoring 67.913% to place fourth in the CDIO3* Grand Prix. The pair will now contest the CDIO3* Grand Prix Special on Saturday (Sunday AEDT, draw TBC).
Fellow Aussie Hope Beerling was tenth in the Grand Prix with Dean Martin on 65.065%, and this combination is now set to contest the CDIO3* Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday at 8pm local time (12pm Saturday AEDT)
Australia’s third combination, Sally Lofting and Gigi, were unfortunately eliminated in the Grand Prix.
Olympian Kelly Layne was the Chef d’Equipe for the Aussie team.
Germany on top again in Wellington
Germany began the 2025 FEI Dressage Nations Cup series the way they ended it last July: with a victory.
The two-time defending series champion bested the season opener in Wellington for a fifth consecutive occasion, finishing on a team score of 207.022. The United States checked in second (201.565), with Sweden third (190.761) in an identical podium to last year’s event at the Global Dressage Festival.
Evelyn Eger led the German squad, posting the top score of the test on 70.435% with Tabledance 3. She was joined on top of the team podium by Felicitas Hendricks (Drombusch OLD), Lars Ligus (Santiago), and Michael Klimke (Harmony’s Fado), who was also the team’s chef d’equipe.
Source: FEI press release
