Ornago's first Grand Prix for Simone Pearce & Will Marq

While all eyes are on the Netherlands and the World Cup in 's-Hertogenbosch scheduled for this afternoon (see HERE), further south in Ornago, dressage is also in the spotlight. Twenty-four horse and rider combinations started this morning in the Grand Prix qualifier for the Special. Although live scores are not yet available, the podium positions are already known.

After Bordeaux, Australian Simone Pearce continues her winning streak, which could send her to the World Championships in Aachen. Already victorious in France in February, she also won the first Grand Prix of the Ornago CDI today with her Will Marcq. While he didn't halt perfectly, the bay gelding delivered a clear test, notably with a well-executed first pirouette. Awarded (likely) 70.71%, Simone Pearce and Will Marcq finished ahead of Alexandre Ayache & Ruling Olivia. The French pair, regular at the Italian competition having already competed in 2024 and 2025, presented an easy test with active and dynamic work in the trot, piaffe, and passage. Awarded (to be confirmed) with a score of 69.739%, they were ahead of the Swiss Charlotte Lenherr & Dettori at (it seems) 69.022%: not very active in his first piaffe, the stallion showed real tensions before the two times changes.

Jessica von Bredow Werndl chose Italy for her CDI debut with Times Kismet. If Charlotte Dujardin's former horse showed plenty of "go," she was nonetheless very tense today; making mistakes in the two times changes, she resisted clearly and went backward in her final piaffe. The score is not yet known.

Scores to come HERE