The first ‘Friday Night Stars’ evening of freestyle competition at the 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL, brought impressive performances and scores in the FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle, sponsored Palm Beach Equine Clinic.
On an unusually cold evening during Lloyd Landkamer Memorial week, Germany’s Felicitas Hendricks rode her own 14-year-old Drombusch OLD (Destano x Dimaggio) to a 78.2% victory as the last rider to go. The class was also a qualifier for the new US Equestrian Open of Dressage, which features 23 qualifiers—seven of which are at AGDF—before the final in California in November.
US Olympic team silver medalist Adrienne Lyle finished second with a 77.28% performance on Helix, reversing the placings from Thursday’s qualifying Grand Prix. Sweden’s seven-time Olympian Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén and Devanto’s 75.515% score secured third place.
Hendrix, who at 24 years old is still eligible to ride in under-25 classes, has returned to AGDF as a senior for the second year running after finishing as the top rider at AGDF 2024. Her test showed harmonious self-carriage coupled with power and balance and featured 20 one-time changes down the centerline.
“He exceeded my expectations, like he does every time,” said Hendrix, whose groom Yannick Schmitz was awarded a check for $500, courtesy of the Lövsta Future Challenge. “He leaves his heart in the ring. I can tell that he’s very happy to be back and he was loving the crowd. He was a little spicy, but in a good way.
“The main work we’ve been doing at home is still the same and won’t change—it’s very basic work of improving self-carriage and gaining more strength behind. I think that is a process that won’t ever stop, but I can tell that it’s really benefiting both of us. We take all that basic work into the exercises like the pirouettes and changes,” added Hendrix, who is planning to ride three further CDIs with Drombusch at AGDF, including the Nations Cup in week seven and week 10’s CDI5*.
Lyle had a glitch with her music, but once it was restarted, she pulled off a test full of power and energy on her Paris 2024 ride Helix, Zen Elite Equestrian’s 13-year-old Apache x Jazz gelding. She has been carefully preparing him for this debut under lights at home.
“We’ve been getting him out at night and I’ve been riding him in the outdoor arena in the dark,” explained Lyle, who rode to 70s and 80s music put together by Terry Gallo. “My girls are really good sports and they come and put speakers around the arena. We’ve been playing applause music and doing all sorts of things to try to desensitize Helix because he’s a very hot and sensitive horse. We’ve been trying to put in our due diligence to make sure that he was not overwhelmed in this environment.
“Considering the unconventional start to the test, I was really happy with him. He got a little excited at the beginning, so it wasn’t our most polished ride but I’m very proud of him as this is a new experience for us,” she added.
Vilhelmson Silfvén rode her long-time partner Devanto, Lövsta Stuteri’s 16-year-old jumping-bred gelding to her familiar ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ freestyle compilation.
“I was very pleasantly surprised yesterday that he was so excited to be here and showing again,” she said. “Although he was hot, he still let me ride him and that’s kind of new because he would sometimes get excited and forget about me. He was so ‘on’ and spicy yesterday, so I was wondering how I should handle him today, but I liked the feeling he gave. He’s a really fun horse.”
Judge at C Janet Foy (USA) was impressed with the quality of the rides. She said: “I think the top five were really super. They were interesting technically, the music was perfect for the horses, and they were wonderful to judge. I don’t think we’ve had such a high scoring opening show before—it’s an impressive start to the season.”
(The sole Canadian in the class, Camille Carier Bergeron riding Finnländerin, placed 7th with 71.040%)
Click HERE for full results from the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle, presented by Palm Beach Equine Clinic.
Spanish Depth on Show
In Friday’s daytime CDI1* FEI Intermediate I, sponsored by Harmony Sporthorses, Spanish riders filled two of the top three spots. Pablo Gómez Molina steered the internationally inexperienced Farinel Di Fonteabeti (Kastel’s Grand Galaxy Win x Fidertanz) to the blue ribbon with 72.383%, getting the nod from all five judges. Kevin Kohmann and Diamante Farms’ 10-year-old mare Scala—winners of Thursday’s Prix St. Georges class—slotted into second place with 70.353%.
Juan Francisco Fernandez Muñoz rode his own and Precision Andalusian Stables’ Doppelkorn to third with 67.412%, marking the pair’s second personal best of AGDF1. At eight years old, the Don Index gelding was the youngest in the class. This was his second senior CDI and his first outside Europe, and Fernandez Muñoz is making his AGDF debut this season. There were two Canadian entries in this class – Laurence Blais Tétreault was 5th riding Lennon (66.500%) and Sarah Corbett and Summersby were 6th (63.823%).
Gómez Molina has owned the nine-year-old Hanoverian gelding since spotting him in Italy as a three-year-old. The pair clinched victory from final draw.
“It’s always nice to win and especially to start the season like this, but this one actually feels a bit different because Farinel is my own horse and he’s really talented and clever,” said Gómez Molina. “Yesterday in the Prix St. Georges we tested what we could do better and then went for it today, and the score reflects that.
“I think I have more success with the horses I’ve been training since they are young ones because over the years you learn more about how much you can push and when you need to be a little more quiet. I can trust him a lot and that gives you a lot of confidence as a rider.”
Gómez Molina, who works for Yeguada De Ymas, is hoping to bring Farinel Di Fonteabeti up to grand prix level at the end of 2025, and appreciates the many showing opportunities AGDF affords.
“This circuit allows us to get all of the 25 horses we have at home out to compete and that’s why it’s such a good opportunity,” he explained. “With so many shows you don’t have to rush a horse if it’s not ready.”
Results here.
Dressage classes resume on Saturday, January 11, with the CDI3* FEI Grand Prix Special, sponsored by Havensafe Farm, starting at 12.30pm ET. AGDF, which hosts seven weeks of CDI competition, runs through March 30. For more information and results, and to watch all the classes in the Equestrian Village International Ring on live stream, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.
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