WELLINGTON, Fla.--At only their second big tour show together, Jan Ebeling on Ann Romney’s Bellena won the Grand Prix CDI4* (for freestyle),one of three grand prix on Thursday, March 3, with the day’s highest score at the level.

Jan Ebelilng on Bellena (Photo by Susan Stickle)Spain’s Juan Matute Guimón was second on Quantico with 69.848 percent, while Canadian Ariana Chia’s personal best of 69.087 percent on Fiderflame placed her third of the 11 starters.

Despite Bellena being the equal-youngest horse in the class and making a costly mistake in the pirouette right, she achieved 71.739 percent and a unanimous victory.

“I’m stoked,” said the 63-year-old Ebeling. “She’s a super talented horse. Probably the most talented I’ve ever had in my whole career. She’s still green, so she does stuff that green horses do, but what a horse. I was really happy about my one tempis because we’ve been battling with those, and we’ve always had mistakes here and there. Today was really the first line of 15 without a mistake. We got her when she was 9 and she already knew a lot, but she had big gaits and needed to find her balance first, and that’s taken a bit of time.”

 

“IT TOOK a long time, but I think we’re finally getting to a point where she’s grown into her own," said Ebeling. "There’s still a lot to do, and I’m taking it one step at a time, but being on another team would be amazing.'

Riding Serenade MF, the youngest horse in the class of 14 starters, Alice Tarjan won the Grand Prix CDI4* (for Special).

Ebeling was second with 69.87percent on Indeed and Canadian Naïma Moreira Laliberte was third with 69.587 percent on Statesman.

Serenade MF was making her CDI debut, and Tarjan has owned the 9-year-old Sir Donnerhall I daughter since she was a foal.

“I bought her, black with white socks, and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty. If I don’t like her, I can sell.’ It turns out the horse moves really well and was super easy to train, so I kept it,” said Tarjan, who won the USEF Developing Horse Grand Prix Dressage National Championship in 2021 with the mare. “But she’s little and downhill. She’s very pretty and super sweet and easy, just not the most impressive thing. However, when you put her together and clock around, that horse lights up.

“I’m thrilled with the win, but everything’s a work in progress. She’s a good girl, and she did her job,” she said. “The horse is pretty reliable and easy, and she’s not at all influenced by the environment. She’s pretty easy to train all the tricks, but it’s really been the self-carriage and the uphill balance that have been the challenge to maintain throughout the test. We lose it, for sure, but it’s much more consistent than it was last year.”

“It’s nice to have a horse where there’s not much drama and who stands for the awards ceremonies and stuff, because the other ones can be a little hot. You wish that maybe the horse was a little hotter sometimes, but she’s learning.”

Canadian Tokyo Olympic rider Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu, who is three months pregnant, won the World Cup Short Grand Prix, riding All In to score 71.447 percent.

“He felt great, so it was a little bit of a shame that we had a miscommunication in the ones on centerline,” said the 33-year-old, who has ridden the horse for 12 years. “But he’s 17 years old, I just had a huge show at the five-star, and he came back out here and was with me again. He’s just a horse of a lifetime. He comes out every time and tries his best."

Tarjan on Donatella M was second with 69.053 percent on their first attempt at the short grand prix, and Codi Harrison finished third on Bossco with 68.368 percent, and will be hoping for a strong performance in Friday’s freestyle to secure the one remaining starting slot for North America at the World Cup Final.

The top three in the Prix St. Georges CDI2* all scored over 71 percent, but it was Christian Simonson on Zeaball Diawind who won with a new personal best of 74.5percent.

Simonson, who is only 19, has hardly ever scored below 70 percent at FEI level on Zeaball Diawind, and the pair won three gold medals at the North American Youth Championships in 2021.

Kristina Harrison-Antell finished second with 71.294 percent on I Felix, while Luuk Mourits of The Netherlands placed third riding Sarotti OLD to 71.265 percent.