-- WEC press release, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Andrew Ryback
Two grand prix classes were held on the opening day of the 2026 CDI Ocala at the World Equestrian Centre in Ocala on Friday 13 February 2026. Jodie Kelly-Baxley (USA) started the evening with victory in the Grand Prix for Special CDI3* on her own Grayton Beach. Riding Scott Durkin’s Toronto Lightfoot, Meagan Davis (USA) took the top spot in the Grand Prix for Freestyle CDI3*. Classes are ridden indoors.
GP for Special: Kelly-Baxley in the Blue
In a class with nine combinations, Kelly-Baxley rode her 15-year-old KWPN gelding Grayton Beach (by Negro x UB-40) to victory in the Grand Prix for Special. They scored 67.609% for the win, while Wellington based Ellesse Gundersen (USA) trailered her Quintessential up north to Ocala to place second with 66.522%. Her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding is by Quaterback x Cordoba and owned by Gundersen, Henrik Gundersen, and Marcia Radosevich. Nora Batchelder (USA) and Nova, a 10-year-old Oldenburg mare by Grand Galaxy Win T x Romanov owned by Carol Glover, placed third with 66.369%.
Jodie has had an incredible 12-year partnership with Grayton Beach, and their FEI career together started at the Small Tour in 2021. They progressed to grand prix at the end of 2023 and have been building ever since. They scored a win in November of 2025 at WEC – Ocala as well.
While there were good scores for the pair at the grand prix level, Kelly-Baxley was feeling something different beneath her.
“Grayton is very sensitive and really worries when he makes a mistake or isn’t sure of the answer,” she explained. “He always tries his hardest and never says no, but putting the whole grand prix together for an over 18-hand horse has been very challenging. He has always loved showing, but when we started showing the grand prix, he slowly got more and more stressed in the show ring,” she continued. “We were getting decent scores, but the feeling was not my happy horse.”
Kelly-Baxley showed Grayton at the FEI level just once in February of 2024 and then turned to just trail riding by the end of the year. She knew that her horse’s mental health and happiness meant more than scores and ribbons in the ring.
“I would rather him be happy, so I backed off, took the pressure off, and we played,” she went on to say. “We started the work back quietly at home. Slowly but surely, he understood, and his confidence grew. It has continued to grow.”
She added about her horse, “I’ve had him since he didn’t steer as a three-year-old, and he’s always been a very happy horse and genuinely my friend. The highlight of my test today was that I have my confident, happy horse back in the show ring. I feel like he loves it again, and that’s all that matters to me. The piaffe was highlight too though!”
GP for Kur: Meagan Davis on a Roll
Leonardo Antonio Godoy (ARG) and Marques Do Lis, a 10-year-old Lusitano stallion by Fabuloso Do Lis x Spartacus owned by Cristina Balcarce, had a personal best of 68.043% for second place. With another personal best of 65.848%, Charlotte Osborne (GBR) and Fruhlingszauber, an 18-year-old Austrian Warmblood gelding by Fortino x Rubinstein I owned by Lisa Carol, placed third.
Davis and Toronto Lightfoot have been competing at the international level since 2023 and have won four of their last seven classes together, including a sweep at the 2025 WEC December Dressage show in the CDI3* division.
“My test tonight was solid and clean,” said Davis. “The tempis and canter zig-zag were spot on. We have been working on lengthening the neck into the hand with more push from behind leading up to this show.”
Earlier in the day, Charlotte Osborne rode Nadal W, an eight-year-old KWPN gelding by Just Wimphof x Westpoint owned by Chantelle Noble, to victory in the Prix St. Georges CDI1*.
Related Links
Scores: 2026 CDI Ocala
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