Wellington, FL - Riders from the United States and several nations competed in the $15,000 Wellington Dressage Classic CDI3*, presented by the Chesapeake Dressage Institute, and National Show held March 15-18 at the Global Dressage Festival (GDF)Stadium show grounds in Wellington, FL.

On Thursday, March 15, the first day of the National Show, Anna Marek, of Morriston, FL, rode Voyager to victory in the Intermediare 1- Open class with a score of 68.816%. Marek was also the high score winner of the day. Voyager, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Belinda Nairn-Wertman, gave Marek a consistent and solid ride in a hotly contested class to garner the award.

In the Para-Equestrian Division, Canadian Paralympic competitor Lauren Barwick and her mount Off To Paris had a stellar day of competition with a score of 75.833% in the FEI Para Equestrian Grade II Team - Adult Amateur class.

Barwick regularly competes in international shows, including Athens 2004 summer Paralympics and the 2010 World Equestrian Games. She was named the 2004 Canadian Equestrian of the Year.

On Friday, March 16, Ashley Holzer of Canada and Pop Art were the big winners of the FEI Grand Prix at the Wellington Dressage Classic. Holzer and Pop Art garnered a sore of 71.447% from the five international judges, enough to hold off Tina Konyot of Palm City, FL and Calecto V, who scored 70.191% for second place. Heather Blitz of Wellington, FL and Paragon were third with 70.128%

Holzer was on Canada's bronze medal team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and represented her homeland in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Beijing Games. She represented Canada in the first World Equestrian Games in Stockholm in 1990 then in Jerez, Spain in 2002, Aachen Germany in 2006. She also won team gold at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba, and team silver at the 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo.
The FEI Prix St. Georges class, also on Friday, was won by Caroline Roffman of Wellington, FL and Pie, who, with a score of 68.789%, narrowly beating Shawna Harding of Aiken, SC on Rigo with 68.526%. Kelly Layne of Australia was third on Von Primaire scoring 68.105%.

The following day, Roffman rode Pie to victory in FEI Intermediare 1 class that consisted of fifteen horse and rider combinations from seven different countries on Saturday. The pair scored 69.289% for the win. Roffman was resplendent in a green top hat during the awards presentation in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Roffman rose up through the ranks of the Dressage Young Riders program and has become a top contender in the FEI small tour at the Global Dressage Festival this season. Her scores with Pie, (Hanoverian by Worldly, out of WorldLady) have been in the upper 60s for the last two CDIs.

Shawna Harding and Rigo, a ten year old Hanoverian by Rotspon, out of Winnepeg (Weltmeyer) took second place with 68.526%. Shelly Francis and Doktor scored 67.500% to take third.

In the Grand Prix Freestyle on Saturday evening, the last rider to enter the ring, Heather Blitz, rode Paragon to a score of 75.350% to take top honors. Blitz had a rough day leading up to her win. With her four-year-old, she memorized the four-year-old FEI test, not the USEF four-year-old test. Then she managed to give the wrong freestyle music to the announcer. The jury allowed her to correct the snafu and return last to complete her test, but even that was not without trauma. Blitz could not find the correct music. Fortunately she had it on her phone, so the announcer was able to access it that way. "Yeah, I guess I learned my lesson," she said afterward.

Ashley Holzer riding Breaking Dawn was second in the Freestyle with a high score of 74.275%. Holzer now has two horses qualified to be selected by the Canadian team for the London Olympics. Her horses will be first and second on the Canadian's list for team members. Anja Plonzke of Germany scored 73.350% on her horse Le Mont d'Or to finish the evening in third place.

On the final day of the Wellington Dressage Classic, Tina Konyot and her Calecto V scored an impressive 72.644% to take the FEI Olympic Grand Prix Special. Two percentage points separated Konyot from her closest rival, Shawna Harding and Come On III, who scored 70.622% to capture second place. The top two horses are both sired by Comeback II who stands in Denmark. Ashley Holzer with Pop Art garnered 70.378% to finish in third.

Barbie Asplundh of Loxahatchee, FL and her aptly named Rising Star won the FEI Intermediare Freestyle class on Sunday, the final international class of the show scoring 69.025%. Jane Cleveland of Nashville, TN, and Rodeo Queen were second with 68.250% and Colombian Marco Bernal rode Farwell IV to third place with a score of 67.550%.

For more information please visit the Global Dressage Festival website at: www.globaldressagefestival.com under the link of dressage show information and ride times on the main homepage.