USA on Top in 2026 CDIO Wellington Nations Cup After Five-Year Drought

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2026 CDIO Wellington

-- GDF press release, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Centre Line Media

The first leg of the 2026 FEI Nations Cup Dressage series kicked off in Wellington, Florida, on Thursday 19 March 2026 with three nations battling it out for highest honour. The U.S. team, led by Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig, came out on top by the slimmest of margins.

The 2026 CDIO Wellington is the last CDI of the three-month 2026 winter circuit at the Global Dressage Festival. This CDIO is the only leg held outside Europe with four more in Europe between April and July.

It took until the very last show of the 2026 Wellington season for a decent turn-out of big tour riders in the international stadium. An impressive 36 Grand Prix combinations went down the centerline across two senior classes on Thursday, yet none of them were able to crack the 70% barrier.

Drought Ended

For the past five years, team Germany has dominated this FEI Nations Cup in Wellington, and until the very last rider, they topped the leaderboard. The experienced home rider Anna Marek was the only one who could break the German stranglehold. After a mistake-free test, her score tipped the balance in the U.S.’s favour, handing the four riders a resounding victory.

Three teams battled it out for the medals, with less than 1.5 percentage points spanning the podium finishers. The U.S. team concluded on a total of 205.631, Germany had to settle for silver on 205.043, and Canada scooped bronze with 204.196. The last time the U.S. team won the Wellington Nations Cup leg was in 2020, when the format still allowed for a mixture of grand prix and small tour combinations.

U.S. Team with Debutants

The U.S. result was particularly notable given that two of the riders— Meagan Davis and Jordan LaPlaca— were making their senior team debuts. Both the trailblazer Ashley Holzer and anchor rider Anna Marek received late call-ups after the withdrawal of two selected combinations. Holzer clocked up 67.652% on Hawtins San Floriana, setting a solid bar for the team, while Marek notched 69.435% on her sister-in-law Cynthia Davila’s 16-year-old gelding Fayvel (by Zizi Top x Houston) to lock in the home side’s victory.

“Christine chose me to go last, which is always a big honor,” said Marek, who is based near Ocala, Fla. “In a team competition, there’s even more added pressure because I want to have a good ride for my team. I didn’t know what score I needed for gold and, honestly, it wouldn’t have really mattered. I just went in there wanting to ride the best test I could.

Marek only stepped in last minute, replacing team rider Ben Ebeling who withdrew Bellena (by Belissimo M) from the Nations Cup a week ago.

“This gold medal is huge, though, because it was important to Cynthia for Fayvel to be on a team, so it’s special to share this with her. He’s a very special horse. He was hers to ride, and then I started riding him, and [my coach] Anne Gribbons always loved him, so Cynthia let me carry on, and we’ve been enjoying every second of it.”

Davis placed fourth individually with her 68.544% ride on Scott Durkin’s 13-year-old Toronto Lightfoot, adding to a career-defining season for the duo. She attributes much of the Totilas gelding’s ability to focus in a big atmosphere to having cows as well as a children’s trampoline right next to her ring at home in Loxahatchee, Fla.

“I was a little nervous when a helicopter sounded like it was landing in the ring with us, but Toronto trusted me and never missed a beat,” she said. “We lacked a little impulsion, but we did a clean test, so we did what we needed to do. There’s only up to go from here with him.”

Holzer also pulled off a clean test with her own and Diane Fellows’s Hawtins San Floriana (San Amour x Florestan I), something that has previously eluded them.

“I have not done a clean test ever on this horse until today, so I’m thrilled,” enthused Holzer, who represented Canada at four Olympics before switching codes. “I love this horse so much, and she’s a sensitive, hot tamale, so for her to be calm and quiet and respond to me is a very special feeling.

“You cannot take for granted what an honor it is to be chosen to ride on a team for your country,” she continued. “It was a close competition, and yes, there’s added pressure, but there’s also the added strength of people rooting for you, which is wonderful. It was great to have two younger combinations here, because you don’t get used to the feeling of riding on a team unless you actually get to do it.”

LaPlaca was somewhat conflicted as he had a disappointing 65.131% test on his own and Nancy Hutson’s over-enthusiastic 11-year-old Grey Flanell-sired gelding Gold Play, but the horse nevertheless lived up to his name and delivered a gold medal.

“It’s what you dream of,” said LaPlaca, who is from Ledyard, Conn., and was contesting just his fourth big tour CDI with the horse. “Honestly, each day riding him is a win. Being on a team that is so strong and to gain this experience was top-notch—you can’t beat it. To have the camaraderie, teamwork and the spirit of being together makes it that much more fun, because dressage can be isolating.

“However, I was a little bummed about the test today because he took over in places and was more electric than he has been, which is kind of cool, because we did back-to-back CDIs,” he mused. “So, he’s got the heat, but it caused a lot of mistakes. The highlight was him showing me that he enjoys being out there. Now, it’s just a lifetime of refinement and making it all easier and calmer.”

Germany and Canada on Silver and Bronze

The silver medal-winning Germans were spearheaded by the Paris Olympic team gold medalist, Frederic Wandres. He and Hof Kasselmann’s 10-year-old Vilancio gelding Varrenberg topped the class individually with 69.913%. Wandres’s fiancé Lars Ligus, who also works for Hof Kasselmann, contested just his second ever senior CDI (the first was the Wellington Nations Cup during the 2025 GDF) and put down a valuable contributing score for the team. He rode the 14-year-old Zonik daughter Zara K2 to 66.978% in the horse’s second CDI.

The three teams in the Wellington Nations Cup

The 22-year-old German Emma Lienert was another rider making her senior team debut, and she logged a new personal best. She rode her own 15-year-old Johnson gelding Windermere J’Obei W to 68.152% in the duo’s second senior CDI. They have had a prolific run in the U25 ranks, winning all seven of their starts at AGDF this season. The horse was formerly campaigned by New Zealander Melissa Galloway, including at the Paris Olympics. Germany’s Chef d’Equipe Michael Klimke rode Fado to 66.63%.

The anchor rider for the Canadian team, Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu, was the individual runner-up to Wandres. She rode Jill Irving’s 12-year-old Jaccardo (by Desperado x Jazz) to 69.826%. The talented pair have qualified for April’s FEI World Cup™ Final in Texas. The Canadian team was rounded out by the Olympic duo of Camille Carier Bergeron and Finnländerin, alongside Denielle Gallagher (Come Back De Massa) and Alexandra Duncan (Hitmaker).

The 2026 FEI Nations Cup™ series consists of five legs in five different countries, spanning two continents, with the winning team accumulating the most points from their four best results. The victory in the CDIO3* event earned the United States 10 points, giving them an early lead in the series. Germany sits second on 8 points, followed by Canada with 7 points. The series resumes at Fontainebleau (FRA) on 18 April 2026.

U25 Nations Cup

In the under-25 Nations Cup competition, the U.S. team of Alicia Berger, Allison Nemeth, and Sophia Schults, under the guidance of Chef D’Equipe George Williams, went head-to-head with Canada’s Brooke Mancusi and Sarah Corbett, who fielded the minimum of two riders to make a team.

Berger headed up the CDIO-U25 Intermediate II test, landing 65.5% on her family’s 15-year-old Ampere gelding, Aqua Marin. Nemeth finished second on her own Desperado 10-year-old gelding Leviathan, sealing the gold medal for the U.S. team with 130.853 points to Canada’s 119.559.

**Vilhelmson Silfvén Tops 3* Grand Prix**

The 3* Grand Prix featured 24 pairs and seven-time Swedish Olympian Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén clawed her way back from a big spook and a low trending score early on, which saw her languishing far down the list of starters. A peppering of eights on the mark-rich final centerline riding Lövsta Stuteri’s 14-year-old Hyatt helped draw the score up to a winning 68.761%.

Jennifer Williams (USA) and the Joppe Partners LLC’s 12-year-old Rousseau gelding Joppe K slotted into second with 68.326%. Wellington-based Devon Kane (USA) was the last to go in the class and laid claim to a podium spot, finishing third with 67.848% on class sponsor Diamante Farms’s 14-year-old gelding, Vamos, by Vivaldi.

Vilhelmson Silfvén and Hyatt were hot off a win in the 4* Grand Prix Freestyle in AGDF 8. This is their third CDI of the circuit.

“It was maybe a little bit expensive looking [spooking] at the flowers,” laughed Vilhelmson Silfvén, whose Lövsta Stuteri team has brought Hyatt, by Apache, to GDF every year since 2023. “It’s always a process and we’re always working on something, and that’s what’s so fun. But she trusted me and got right back into the work.

“I always want to ride mistake-free, which I didn’t, so I’m not happy with myself, but she’s in good shape. The last centerline, she really got into it, and that’s the best feeling. I’m really happy with the overall season and we’re learning all the time.”

On her return to Europe this spring, Vilhelmson Silfvén plans to ride at the Aachen CDI3* in Germany in May, with the hope that she and Hyatt can make the Swedish team for the World Championships at the same venue in August.