Adequan Global Dressage Festival Week 8, Wellington, FL
The final of the 43rd edition of the ever-popular Palm Beach Derby knock-out competition on Friday saw Jennifer Hoffmann (USA) and Chris von Martels (CAN) emerge victorious from the semi-finals held earlier in the day to step forward for the final. In this competition, top riders team up with an unfamiliar horse and perform the Prix St. Georges under test conditions after just five minutes to get acquainted.
The horse for the final was Sarah Colson’s nine-year-old Escolar gelding, Esquire WS, whose regular rider is Australian Hope Beerling. Esquire and Beerling were placed first in Thursday’s Prix St. Georges test, which is how the horse to be used for the final is determined.
First to go, Hoffmann put down a 69.596% ride on Esquire WS. Von Marels climbed into the saddle and produced a powerful, expressive 72.758% on the attractive Westphalian to clinch the Palm Beach Dressage Derby title for the second time, after also winning in 2016. Aside from the five-time winner Cristoph Koschel, Von Martels is the only rider to have won more than once.
In Week 8’s Lövsta Future Challenge qualifier, a series for developing grand prix horses from eight to 11 years old, the stallion Vivaldi’s offspring were well-represented, with the win going to My Vitality, ridden by Adrienne Lyle (USA), scoring 71.265%. Vivaldi also sired the second-place finisher, Kensington, an 11-year-old gelding owned by Enterprise Farm Equestrian who is out of a Sir Sinclair dam and was ridden to 69.206% by Canada’s Lindsay Kellock Duckworth.
Other Canadian top-5 CDI placings:
CDI1* FEI Prix St. Georges – 2. Laurence Blais Tétreault, Lennon 69.314%
CDI1* FEI Intermediate 1 – 3. Sven Steffens-Smienk, Blue Ridge A Cappella 68.647%
CDI2* FEI Intermediate A – 1. Naïma Moreira Laliberté, Inspire 70.529%; 3. Brooke Mancusi, DeJohn Ymas 64.706%
CDI2* FEI Intermediate II – 1. Naïma Moreira Laliberté, Inspire 71.559%; 4. Brooke Mancusi, DeJohn Ymas 65.676%
CDI1* FEI Intermediate 1 Freestyle – 1. Sven Steffens-Smienk, Blue Ridge A Cappella 73.990%
All results here.
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Brittney Eastgate and Kartsevo Goldfinch competing at DIHP in 2025. (Brittney Eastgate Simpson Facebook); Erin Silo and Jett, seen here competing in BC. (Erin Silo Instagram)
HITS Del Mar Dressage Opener CDI-W, Del Mar, CA
On the other side of the country at the the HITS Del Mar Dressage Opener CDI-W in California, in the FEI World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle CDI-W, Brittney Eastgate of Saanichton, BC, rode Kartsevo Goldfinch, a 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Jazz x Lingh), to a second-place finish with a score of 72.020%. The pair were also second in the FEI World Cup Grand Prix with 66.956%. In the Grand Prix Special CDI3*, Erin Silo of Langley, BC and Jett, her own 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Glock’s Johnson TN x Floresco NRW), placed second.
Complete results here.
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