Wellington, Fla. – Capping off the winter season at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, the CDIO3* presented by Stillpoint Farm will take center stage this week in Wellington, Fla. This Nations Cup event is unique to the calendar in that it allows for nations to formulate their teams with both Big and Small Tour combinations. The U.S. will be represented by four Big Tour combinations: Shelly Francis and Doktor, Kasey Perry-Glass and Goerklintgaard’s Dublet, Laura Graves and Verdades, and Arlene “Tuny” Page and Woodstock. The team will be led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Dover. 

The veteran pair of Francis (Loxahatchee, Fla.) and Patricia Stempel’s Doktor, a 2003 Oldenburg gelding, will make its third appearance on the U.S. team here at the Wellington CDIO3*. The pair has earned top-10 placings throughout the 2016 Adequan Global Dressage Festival, including a win in the FEI Grand Prix Special at the CDI-W presented by The Axel Johnson Group and in the FEI Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special at the CDI3* presented by Havensafe Farm.

Making their Nations Cup debut at the Grand Prix level will be Perry-Glass (Wellington, Fla.) and Diane Perry’s Goerklintgaard’s Dublet, a 2003 Danish Warmblood gelding. Following a solid career at the Small Tour level that included top placings in the U.S. and Europe, the pair moved up to the Grand Prix this winter. The pair has placed in the top three in all of their 2016 CDI outings during the Adequan Global Dressage Festival.

Graves (Geneva, Fla.) will bring her own Verdades, a 2002 KWPN gelding. 2015 was an immensely successful year for the pair as it finished fourth in its first Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage Final appearance, earned Team Gold and Individual Silver medals at the Pan American Games, and was crowned The Dutta Corp./USEF Dressage Grand Prix National Champions. Competing at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival this winter, the duo won both the FEI Grand Prix and FEI Grand Prix Special at the CDI5* presented by Diamante Farms in February and the FEI Grand Prix and FEI Grand Prix Freestyle at the CDI4* presented by Havensafe Farm two weeks ago.

Rounding out the all-female team for the U.S. will be Page (Wellington, Fla.) and her own Woodstock, a 2003 Dutch Warmblood gelding. Woodstock has been a rising star in Page’s barn, representing the U.S. last summer on Nations Cup teams at Rotterdam and Hagen. Kicking-off the winter season with a highlight, the pair won the FEI Grand Prix Special and placed second in the FEI Grand Prix during the CDI-W presented by Yeguada de Ymas in week one of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival.

Competition begins on Wednesday with the FEI Prix St. Georges Test for Small Tour combinations and the FEI Grand Prix Test for Big Tour combinations. Team medals will be awarded following the conclusion of the FEI Intermediaire I and FEI Grand Prix Special Tests on Thursday.

Grand Prix Order of Go