Wayne, Ill. – Wayne, Ill. – Eight of the 14 divisions competing at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions completed their horse inspections on Wednesday, August 22, including the Junior, Pony Rider and Children Dressage National Championship divisions. They will each perform two tests in their respective division with each test counting for 50% of their overall score.
 
These Championships coincide with the Markel/USEF Young & Developing Horse Dressage National Championships, which feature five divisions: Four-, Five-, and Six-Year-Olds as well as the Developing Horse Prix St. Georges and Grand Prix divisions. Combinations in each division will perform two tests. The first test will count 40% towards their overall scores, and the second test will count 60% for a combined score to determine the champions.

Markel/USEF Developing Horse Dressage Grand Prix National Championship

2017 Markel/USEF Developing Horse Dressage Grand Prix National Champions Cesar Para and Fashion Designer OLD are back to contend their title. Also returning are the current Developing Horse Grand Prix division ranking leaders Michael Bragdell (Colora, Md.) and Qredit Hilltop, Hilltop Farm Inc.’s 10-year-old Oldenburg stallion, as well as Emily Miles (Paola, Kan.) and Quantum Jazz, Leslie Waterman’s nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding. Miles also enters Florentine, Waterman’s nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding, after competing in the Developing Prix St. Georges division in 2016. Jessica Jo Tate (Wellington, Fla.) is back with Pamela Liddell’s nine-year-old gelding Half-Connemara, Kynynmont Gunsmoke’s Gideon. Other notables entered include U.S. Dressage Development Program combination Dawn White O’Connor and Bailarino, Four Wind Farms’s 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding. Alice Tarjan (Frenchtown, N.J.) rounds out her entries in each of the young horse divisions with Candescent, her own eight-year-old Hanoverian mare.

The Markel/USEF Developing Horse Grand Prix National Championship will begin Friday, August 24 with the FEI Intermediate II Test and be determined on Sunday, August 26 following the USEF Developing Grand Prix Test.

Markel/USEF Developing Horse Dressage Prix St. Georges National Championship

Endel Ots (Wellington, Fla.) and Lucky Strike, Max Ots’s eight-year-old Hanoverian gelding, who lead the Developing Horse Prix St.

Georges rankings and are the 2017 Reserve Champions, will look to add to their success in the young horse divisions. However, they face determined competition, including three combinations that competed as six-year-olds: Stewart Underhill (Long Lake, Minn.) and Deimos 4 (2017), April Batcheller’s seven-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Angela Jackson (Henderson, Ky.) and Figaro H (2016), her own seven-year-old Zweibrucker gelding, and Cesar Parra (White House Station, N.J.) and Don Cesar (2016), Gotham Enterprizes LLC’s 11-year-old Westphalian gelding. Michael Bragdell and Sternlicht Hilltop, Hilltop Farm Inc.’s eight-year-old Hanoverian stallion, members of the U.S. Dressage Development Program supported by the Red Husky Foundation and Akiko Yamazaki, as well as London 2012 Olympian Jan Ebeling (Moorpark, Calif.) and Bellena, Ann Romney’s eight-year-old Hanoverian mare, and Rio 2007 Pan American Games team and individual gold medalist Christopher Hickey (Wellington, Fla.) and Straight Horse Zackonic, Cecelia Stewart’s Danish Warmblood mare, will also compete. The 14 combinations will begin on Thursday, August 23 with the FEI Prix St. Georges Test followed by the USEF Developing Prix St. Georges Test on Saturday, August 25.

Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Six-Year-Old National Championship

The 2017 Markel/Young Horse Dressage Five-Year-Old Reserve National Champions, Judy Kelly (Clarkston, Mich.) and Quintess, her own Hanoverian mare, return for a chance at the Six-Year-Old National Championship. They will be joined by seven other veteran combinations that graduated from the five-year-old division, including Craig Stanley (Madera, Calif.) and Habanero CWS, his own KWPN gelding, David Wightman (Murietta, Calif.) and Hotshot, his own Oldenburg gelding, Nadine Schwartsman (Eagle, Idaho) and Harvard R, Nancy Weaver’s KWPN gelding, Angela Jackson (Henderson, Ky.) and Sandeman, Julie Cook’s Hanoverian gelding, Anne Buchanan (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Rosette B, her own Oldenburg mare, Jane Hannigan (Harvard, Mass.) and Elfenspiel, Ruling Cortes LLC’s Oldenburg mare, Kayce Redmond (Alpharetta, Ga.) and High Five, Kathie Altenburg’s KWPN gelding, and Jennifer Wetterau (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Hartog, her own Dutch Warmblood gelding. Habanero CWS, Hotshot, and Harvard R are the only three horses to compete in all three young horse divisions, whereas Hartog competed as a four-year-old. The 15 combinations will begin with the FEI Six-Year-Old Preliminary Test on Friday, August 24 followed by the FEI Six-Year-Old Final Test on Sunday, August 26.

Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Five-Year-Old National Championship

Four out of the 15 combinations return from the 2017 Four-Year-Old division to contest the Markel/USEF

Young Horse Dressage Five-Year-Old National Championship. Two of the four come from Tarjan who won the 2017 Markel/USEF Young Horse Four-Year-Old National Championship and Reserve Championship with Serenade MF, her own Hanoverian mare, who are the current division ranking leaders, and Fairouz, her own Oldenburg mare, respectively. Bragdell, the 2012 Four-Year-Old National Champion with Hemmingway, returns with SenSation HW, Carol McPhee’s Westphalian gelding. Martin Kuhn (New Berlin, Ill.) will also compete with Ronin, Debra Klamen’s Hanoverian gelding. The FEI Five-Year-Old Preliminary Test will begin on Thursday, August 23 followed by the FEI Five-Year-Old Final Test on Saturday, August 25, to determine the National Champion.

Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Four-Year-Old National Championship

As a two-time winner of the Markel/USEF Young Horse Dressage Four-Year-Old National Championship Four-Year-Old Division with Serenade MF (2017) and Tiko (2015), Tarjan enters Jaliska, her own Dutch Warmblood mare. Previous winners of the Markel/USEF Young Horse division, including Alyssa Doverspike (Wildomar, Calif.) and Miles, will also compete. Doverspike, the 2017 Five-Year-Old champion with Darius 555, will ride Figaro, Marti Foster and Kathleen Raine’s Westphalian gelding. Miles, the 2010 Five-Year-Old division and 2011 Six-Year-Old division champion with WakeUp, has two entries, Leslie Waterman’s Hanoverian stallions Daily Show and Sole Mio, the current division ranking leaders. They will join a field of 11 additional combinations when competition begins on Thursday, August 23 with the USEF Four-Year-Old Test. The Four-Year-Old National Champion will be determined on Saturday, August 25 following their second attempt at the USEF Four-Year-Old Test

USEF Junior Dressage National Championship

A field of 11 combinations will vie for the USEF Junior Dressage National Championship beginning Friday, August 24, with the FEI Junior Team Test. Three combinations recently competed in the 2018 FEI/Adequan® North American Youth Championships presented by Gotham North, including Melanie Doughty (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) and Fascinata, her 10-year-old Rheinlander mare, who were part of the gold medal-winning Region 3 team, Jori Dupell (Wilsonville, Oregon) and Fiderprinz 2, her nine-year-old Oldenburg gelding, who competed in the 2017 Pony Rider Division, and Allison Nemeth (Flemington, N.J) and Tiko, Karen Nemeth’s seven-year-old Danish Warmblood mare. Nemeth will also compete with own 15-year-old Hanoverian gelding Dafoe, the only returning combination from the 2017 championship. The champion will be determined on Friday, August 24, following the FEI Junior Individual Test.

USEF Children Dressage National Championship

The Children’s division debuted last year at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions as a way to increase development opportunities. After a successful inaugural year, three veterans of the 2017 USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals 13 & Under division proceed to the Children’s division. Reserve Champion Kasey Denny (Hutto, Texas) returns with Feyock, Amy Lynn Denny’s 11-year-old Westphalian gelding, while Ella Fruchterman (West Lakeland, Minn.) and Averi Allen (Pleasant Hill, Mo.) bring different equine partners to the ring.

Competition for the USEF Children Dressage National Championship begins Saturday, August 25, with the FEI Children Team Test, with the champion determined on Saturday, August 25, following the FEI Children Individual Test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

USEF Pony Rider Dressage National Championship

Three combinations will make their second straight appearance in the USEF Pony Rider Dressage National Championship when competition gets underway on Thursday, August 23 with the FEI Pony Rider Team Test. Fruchterman and Sofine Strait Man, her nine-year-old Arabian gelding, Caitlyn Massey (Arlington, Tenn.) and Zassafrass, Kathleen Massey’s 12-year-old Welsh Pony Cross, and Olivia Massotti (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Viktor, her 17-year-old German Sport Pony gelding, join nine combinations all aiming for their first national title. After placing second in the 2016 USEF Dressage Seat Medal Finals 13 & Under division, Ella Angelo (Eagle, Idaho.) will advance to the pony rider division riding Here-be Seren Gwyn, Martha Stover’s 10-year-old Welsh Pony mare. The title will be determined on Friday, August 24, following the FEI Pony Rider Individual Test.

 

 

 

 

 

Live coverage of the 2018 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions will continue on the USEF Network beginning at 9:00 a.m. EST on Thursday.

Find out more information about the 2018 U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions and view the ride times and results.

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