IRISH dressage riders featured at the international dressage show in Wellington, Hampshire, Great Britain last week. Ireland’s Paris Olympian Abi Lyle and the 15-year-old Leon Eggnik bred-KWPN gelding Giraldo scored 69.761% for seventh place in the Grand Prix. Multiple Olympic medallist Carl Hester and the 16-year-old entire Fame, winner of both the five-star Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle at Doha CHI in February, posted a 78.261% total to clinch the win for the home nation. The runner-up was British Rio Olympic team silver medallist Fiona Bigwood, the joint-owner of Fame, and her own 10-year mare Donna Bella on 74.609%.
Despite the inclement weather that blanketed most of Southern England, it proved to be a good outing for Irish national dressage champion Kevin Acres and Ganesh, placing ninth in the Grand Prix on an international personal best score of 68.369%. Crucially, Acres and the Michelle Begley-owned gelding secured the first of two MER (Minimum Eligibility Requirement) qualifying scores for the 2026 FEI Senior Dressage World Championships in Aachen, Germany this August. Hickstead CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle winner Sorrell Klatzko and the 13-year-old Westphalian gelding Turbo completed in 12th place on a 65.587% total. Klatzko narrowly missed out on a first MER qualification score for the 2026 FEI world championships (66% x 2).
Kevin Acres and the 15-year-old KWPN gelding Ganesh scored 67.872% for seventh place in the Grand Prix Special, with Abi Lyle and her own and Caroline Clarry’s Giraldo placing eighth on 66.979%. Sorrell Klatzko scored 64.404% with Turbo to complete in 11th. Great Britain’s Fiona Bigwood and Donna Bella went one better than their Grand Prix outing to win the Special on a 73.447% total. Making their small tour international debut for Ireland, Áine Cafferkey and her own 10-year-old KWPN gelding Leejoy scored 64.706% for 16th place in the Prix St-Georges class and they also finished on the same placing in their first international Intermediate 1 outing on a score of 64.020%.
Juniors
In the Junior Team international class, Rebecca McGrath and the 14-year-old Sandro Hit mare Summersong Caledonia finished in the top 10 on 64.798% to achieve a MER (Minimum Eligibility Requirement) score for the 2026 FEI Dressage European Championships for Juniors, which will take place next month in Olomouc, Czechia [The Czech Republic]. Maeve Deverell and the versatile 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse dun gelding Annaharvey Dunowen, winner of the CCI2*-S at Ballindenisk international horse trials in April, scored 65.637% for sixth place in the Junior Individual international class. Maeve also placed eighth with Annaharvey Firefly on 63.922%, with Rebecca McGrath scoring 62.696% for ninth place. Rebecca and Summersong Caledonia join Evie Kennedy (Cordobes XXXVI) and Maeve Deverell (Annaharvey Dunowen) as one of three combinations qualified for the 2026 FEI Dressage European Championships for Juniors.
In the British Dressage Premier League classes, Irish international rider Finella Quinn secured a podium finish for third place in the Advanced Medium Freestyle to Music with her own nine-year-old mare Mona Lisa on 68.445%. In the small tour, the British-based Quinn and the 11-year-old grey gelding Kintyre, owned by Jacqui Ross, scored 68.480% for fourth place in the Intermediate I class and they were also in the top quartet of the Prix Saint-Georges class on a 69.657% total.