WELLINGTON, Fla.--The Global Dressage Festival's standing was raised into the stratosphere as the undisputed global queen of dressage, Germany’s 12-time Olympic medalist Isabell Werth, burst onto the Florida dressage scene on opening day of Week 7 of the Festival.

Isabell Werth on Special Blend 3 (Photo by Centre Line Media)Werth won the FEI Dressage World Cup Grand Prix with her much-anticipated ride on Special Blend 3, scoring 73.13% despite the gelding losing a front shoe in the first extended trot.

In a truly international class, riders from six different nations filled the top six spots.

Ecuador’s Julio Mendoza Loor placed second on Jewel’s Goldstrike, the horse he rode in the Paris 2024 Olympics, with a score of 71.196%, which would have been higher but for a costly mistake in the two-time changes.

Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu was third on Jaccardo with 70.761%.

“I lost my rein and then the shoe, which was funny, but anyway, Special Blend did really, really good,” said Werth, who last rode in Wellington 15 years ago on her Olympic team gold medallist horse, Satchmo.

 

THE STANDS filled once again for her return on Thursday.

Jordan LaPlaca on Gold Play won the 38 Grand Pris (Photo by Centre Line Media)“It’s nice to get this warm welcome, with so many friendly people," said Werth. "I didn’t expect such a positive response, so that’s been great to feel and really exciting.”

On choosing to bring Special Blend, the youngest horse in the class of 11 starters, she said, “He’s really honest, he travels well, and he’s uncomplicated. Nothing around the show affects him. Yesterday, I trained a bit under the floodlight in the evening, and he was a bit tense, but he settled down and I was very happy this morning. The warm-up was super, and I felt that he was so much more relaxed in the arena. He has real highlights in the piaffe/passage, and all the canter work was nice. I could celebrate on the last centerline and bring the test to the end in a very lightweight way, which is good to see and to feel.”

The class was a qualifier for the Zen Elite Equestrian CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle to be held during “Friday Night Stars”.

It will be Werth and Special Blend’s first CDI freestyle, and they will perform to a classical soundtrack originally made for Emilio, another of Werth’s Olympic team gold medal winning horses. 

Jordan LaPlaca from Connecticut on Gold Play scored a personal best 68.913% to win the CDI3* Grand Prix, their first CDI win at their second show at the level.

Kevin Kohmann on Famous placed second with 68.326%. and Argentina's Leonardo Antonio Godoy on Marques Do Lis was third with 65.152%.

Gold Play is LaPlaca’s first CDI grand prix horse, and he has produced the Oldenburg since finding him as a 4-year-old at Hof Kasselmann in Germany.

The horse’s regime incorporates plenty of cross-training, including galloping, hacking, and turnout, with just three arena schooling sessions a week.

LaPlaca himself also cross-trains: he has driven, and won, at FEI level.

“It’s all surreal,” said LaPlaca. “My original long-term goal was to bring a young horse up through to the international rings, so the first CDI was already a win, whether I won or not. This is the icing on the cake, especially given that there’s so much to improve and it’s just the beginning."

“Gold Play is a very high-powered horse with a lot of energy, and we work a lot on decaffeinating him and trying to keep it all harmonious and easy,” said LaPlaca, who trains with Albrecht Heidemann and, more recently, U.S. dressage Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig. “The training process has been very diverse. He doesn’t know that he’s fancy, so he lives like a normal horse. When he was younger, I did my homework and took him everywhere. If the trailer was leaving the farm, he was on it, so he got used to the world."

“He’s a lot of horse, so you’ve got to work with him, not against him,” he said. “I’m just taking one step at a time, but I really would like to do him justice, and the sky’s the limit. The horse is sick talent naturally, I’m just the monkey up top trying to figure out how to ride it.”

For now, driving is taking a back seat for LaPlaca while he focuses on CDIs with Gold Play, but he has some youngsters waiting in the wings back in Connecticut.

Gold Play will now contest the CDI3* Grand Prix Special on Saturday, Feb. 21.