Team Germany Wins Gold in Wellington FEI Nations Cup for Fifth Straight Victory

Evelyn Eger & Tabledance 3. Photo ©susanjstickle.com

The Starpoint Dancesport FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix was the feature competition on Thursday, February 20, to open proceedings in week seven of the 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL, hosted by Wellington International.

Five countries lined out for the Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix, with Germany taking the gold medal for the fifth consecutive year with 207.022 points. The silver went to the U.S. team with 201.565 points, while Sweden’s tally of 190.761 points secured the bronze. For the second year, the format only allowed grand prix level combinations, in line with the four remaining legs of the 2025 Nations Cup dressage series, all to be held in Europe.

The victorious German team was made up of Lars Ligus, chef d’équipe Michael Klimke, Felicitas Hendricks, and newcomer Evelyn Eger, who topped the class with a new personal best of 70.435% on Tabledance 3. Klimke has been chef d’équipe for each of Germany’s five consecutive victories.

“I’m very proud, because year after year we plan this and try to have a good team,” said Klimke, who rode the 11-year-old Harmony’s Fado to 63.435%. “My horse was not in the best form, but I was lucky to have three very good teammates. Evelyn, Felicitas, and Lars all had really good performances and the key to success is teamwork.

“I’m 55 now and have a lot of experience,” he added. “Team spirit is very important, and we all have the feeling we can rely on and trust each other.”

Eger, who works for Hof Kasselmann and is in her first year competing at AGDF, rode the 12-year-old Totilas daughter Tabledance 3 to her first CDI victory in the three years the duo has been competing at the level.

“She felt really good in the warm-up, so I could go into the test very relaxed,” said Eger. “I finally got the canter work where I want it to be and finally got the one-time changes clean, which I struggled with at the last shows.

“It’s always a big honor to be on the team, and this year is very special because I’m the new one. I was a bit shy, because the team was already super close, but I felt perfectly included from the beginning and that contributed to the success today,” she added.

Perry-Glass and Heartbeat Notch First CDI Win

U.S. Olympic team bronze medalist Kasey Perry-Glass and Heartbeat WP led the standings in Thursday’s other top-level class, the CDI3* Grand Prix sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings. Their 70.804% represented the pair’s second highest grand prix score to date and their first ever CDI victory. It follows an eight-month absence from the international ring. Great Britain’s Susan Pape as second with another plus-70%, coaxing 70.282% from Harmony Sporthorses’ 14-year-old mare, Harmony’s Giulilanta (by Jazz x Flemmingh). Benjamin Ebeling (USA) was third with a 69.631% performance on Ann Romney’s 15-year-old Belissimo M mare, Bellena.

Perry-Glass has been riding Heartbeat for two years, including competing him on the European circuit in the summer of 2024. He is the successor to Perry-Glass’s Olympic mount, Dublet.

“My partnership with Heartbeat is building and his heart is the biggest thing about him, so his name is fitting,” said Perry-Glass. “He tries his hardest and I couldn’t have asked for a better next grand prix horse. He has a world-class piaffe/passage and honing in on that is our biggest goal. It’s still a work in progress, but he’s trusting me more and more in the ring and I felt he was way more confident today.”

Personal Best for Ebeling

In the CDI1* FEI Prix St. Georges, sponsored by Zen Elite Equestrian, Benjamin Ebeling added another ribbon to his collection, leading a U.S. clean sweep of the top three places. He spearheaded the class with a new personal best of 71.03% on the 10-year-old Escona 8 (by Escolar x Sir Donerhall). Katrina Sadis slotted into second with 68.77% on Yeguada de Ymas’ nine-year-old George Clooney gelding Legend Ymas. Molly O’Brien was right behind, riding Lehua Custer’s nine-year-old Floriscount stallion Fortunato H2O to 68.431%.

Ebeling has had the ride on the expressive mare Escona 8, who is owned by ACR Enterprises and Hof Kasselmann, since she was five. This was her fourth CDI and the first time she scored over 70% internationally.

“For me the win is great, but seeing this horse develop over the years has been such an extreme joy,” said the 25-year-old Ebeling. “I felt yesterday in training that his pirouettes reached the next level of collection, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. For a horse with that much movement to gain the strength and go in there and put down a personal best tells me as a rider that I’m doing the correct things in her training and conditioning.

Ebeling credits much of his success with Escona to his two trainers, his father Jan Ebeling and coach Christoph Koschel.

by Alice Collins

Wellington International
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