Justin Verboomen Dominates 2025 CDI Frankfurt Top 12 Competition

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2025 CDI Frankfurt

The year 2025 has become the year of Justin Verboomen. All detractors that say one has to come from money to make it in international dressage sport were (once again) proven wrong: outstanding riding and a horse with a purchase price less than a small car made it the World Nr 1 spot, the European Champion's title and FEI Best Athlete Award.

To make sure it was not a fluke, Verboomen beat his biggest rivals once more at the CDI Frankfurt on 18 - 21 December 2025 in the Top 12 competition.

Top 10 Becomes Top 12

The Top 10 concept was originally launched by the Sweden International Horse Show in Stockholm in 2017 and discontinued in 2025 due to a lack of sponsorship. The Top 10 competition in Sweden did not truly include only top 10 riders, but an attempt was made at bringing together the best, alongside some favoured riders.

When the news was announced that Stockholm would stop running the format in 2025, Isabell Werth picked up the phone and assembled a "circle of excellence," a group of German sponsors that would stage the Top 10 in Frankfurt instead. The benefactors are Bankhaus Metzler, Almased, Liselott-Schindling-Stiftung, Anrecht Investment, Paul Schockemöhle, Family Pistner, Ralph Uwe Westhoff, Madeleine Winter-Schulze, François Kasselmann, Dreame.de, and Abus Equestrian.

Not 10 but 12 of the world's highest ranked pairs competed in Frankfurt. In the end the "lowest" ranked rider in Frankfurt was ranked nr 18th on the FEI World Rider Ranking (Dinja van Liere).

Verboomen Scores a Double

The three medalists from the 2025 European Championships in Crozet - Justin Verboomen, Cathrine Dufour, and Isabell Werth - were scheduled to go head-to-head one last time in 2025. It was a real test for Belgian break-out star Verboomen to gauge if his gold medals in Crozet were a flash in the pan or not. Furthermore, the fact that the Top 12 took place in Frankfurt, on German soil, brought in extra pressure.

The trio was breathing down each other's neck but Verboomen and his Hanoverian stallion Zonik Plus (by Zonik x Hohenstein) claimed the Grand Prix with 81.587%, keeping Isabell Werth and the Danish bred mare Wendy (by Sezuan x Soprano) at bay with a fraction less at 81.456%. Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and the Hanoverian mare Mount St John Freestyle (by Fidermark x Donnerhall) followed in third place with 79.761%.

In the kur, Justin and Zonik Plus reclaimed the highest step of the podium with a 91.195% earning freestyle, but Werth and Dufour swapped placed. Dufour and Freestyle stayed a hair's breath away from Justin's winning score, placing second with 91.085%, while mistakes in the tempi changes repositioned Werth and Wendy to third place with 87.165%.

Quotes from the Riders

Cathrine Dufour and Mount St. John Freestyle

"I'm speechless," Verboomen said at the press conference. "The whole year has been incredible and wonderful, and today's final was the crowning achievement."

After the Kur Dufour commented, "to be honest, it was the first time with Freestyle that I had tears in my eyes at the end. We were 100% connected in every movement, every step. That's exactly what I train for every day. I've received higher scores than today – but emotionally, it was overwhelming.”

Werth added, "we saw truly outstanding horses in the Top 12 Final, with enormous potential. Everyone saw that Wendy and I made a few mistakes today, but it was still an exceptional final.”