Isabell Werth & Special Blend on their way on a Wellington double win
- il y a 23 heures
- 2 min de lecture
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 at the 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in the Zen Elite Equestrian FEI Dressage World Cup™ Grand Prix. Her much-anticipated ride on Helgstrand Dressage’s 11-year-old Special Blend 3 was rewarded with 73.13% and the winner’s blanket despite the Sezuan x Hotline 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, with Ecuador’s Julio Mendoza Loor coming closest to Werth at the top of the leaderboard. He rode his own and his wife Jessica Mendoza’s 15-year-old Bretton Woods gelding Jewel’s Goldstrike—whom he partnered at the Paris 2024 Olympics—to 71.196%, which would have been higher but for a costly mistake in the two-time changes. Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu scooped third on Jaccardo, Jill Irving’s 12-year-old (Desperado x Jazz), with 70.761%.
“I lost my rein and then the shoe, which was funny, but anyway, Special Blend did really, really good,” enthused 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. “It’s nice to get this warm welcome, with so many friendly people. 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 added, “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.”
Full results HERE
source : presse release / picture : Centre Line Media
