Richard Vogel Opens Winter Equestrian Festival with Double Win
Richard Vogel & Event De L’Heribus. Photo © Sportfot
World no. 6 Richard Vogel left his mark on opening week of the 2025 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) with back-to-back wins at Wellington International in Wellington, FL. After topping the Adequan® WEF Challenge Cup Premiere Round riding Levi Noesar on Thursday, he returned Sunday afternoon to win the $75,000 WEF Premiere Grand Prix in the irons of Event De L’Heribus.
In their first show together, Vogel and the 10-year-old German-bred gelding (Emir De Vy x Komanche Des Fontenis) bested a 12-horse jump-off over courses designed by Eric Hasbrouck (USA). A fierce competitor in any jump-off, Vogel stopped the clock at 34.086 seconds to pip current leader Shane Sweetnam (IRL) on Gilona AO. Sweetnam’s time of 34.24 seconds stood for second place, while Jacqueline Ruyle (USA) rounded out the podium for the home country riding Cyramo Z in 35.065 seconds.
“I’m very excited about our future with him,” said Vogel, a German Olympian who is basing in Wellington for his winter season. “It’s a super way to start the season and a spectacular way to begin our partnership.”
Boys in Blue for Battle of the Sexes
The opening “Saturday Night Lights” event of the 2025 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) started off with a three-peat win for the men’s team in the $75,000 Battle of the Sexes under the sparkling lights of Wellington International. The crowd-favorite event highlighted Premiere Week of WEF.
The men boosted their win tally in the Battle of the Sexes to five in the event’s 15-year history with Saturday’s hat trick performance. The winning team on Saturday evening was led by captain Charlie Jayne and included Christian Coyle, Jordan Coyle, Alex Granato, Luis Larrazabal, Tony Stormanns, Sohnke Theymann, and Michael Tokaruk.
The women’s team for Battle of the Sexes consisted of team captain Kelly Soleau with her roster of many riders making their Battle of the Sexes debut, including Mia Bagnato, Alexis Bodo, Amanda Derbyshire, Kyla Makhloghi, Abigail McArdle, Brittni Raflowitz, and Audrey Schulze.
Victoria Colvin and Paradigm Named First International Derby Winners of WEF 2025
Victoria Colvin and Paradigm set their 2025 standards high by winning the $25,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on Friday.
In classic derby format, two panels of judges tallied their scores for the first round to determine which twelve riders would return for the handy test. Colvin, a Wellington native, piloted her Meredith Lipke-owned gelding to the second highest score of 181 in the opening round.
The handy track included a series of high options, a trot fence and ample opportunity to show off tight turns, which Paradigm mastered to draw a score of 201 — nine points higher than the closest challenger.
“He’s a super fun and handy horse,” said Colvin of the 12-year-old Warmblood, who was named USEF National Horse of the Year in 2023 and is the former ride of fellow top hunter rider John French. “This is only our third show together, but he has his own record. He’s particularly good in the derbies so we wanted to set him up for success and have some fun.”
Wellington International
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