Orlob and Davis in the Blue with Cascade of Personal Bests at 2026 CDI Wellington

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2026 CDI Wellington

--- GDF press release, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Lily Forado

Marcus Orlob and Meagan Davis became the winners of the two Grand Prix Special tests at the 2026 CDI Wellington on Saturday 24 January in the third week of competition at the 2026 Global Dressage Festival.

Orlob Wins

A cascade of personal bests in the 5* Grand Prix Special took place in the 5* Special with judges Sven Rothenberger, Isobel Wessels, Henning Lehrmann, Michael Osinski, and Christof Umbach officiating. Marcus Orlob and Jane (by Desperado) won the class with a personal best of 75.979%. His scores ranged from 74.681% to 77.766%

This CDI proved that Orlob is finally figuring out a routine and test riding style that suits Jane; there was no hint of the tensions that dogged her in the ring in previous years.

“I was really happy that she behaved and controlled her nerves [in the Grand Prix] on Thursday, and again today she had a good performance,” said Orlob, who was unfortunately eliminated just seconds into his test on Jane at the Paris 2024 Olympics thanks to a speck of blood on her leg. “I always talk about how she needs to relax, and finally, I think we’re getting there, and we can start to show what we can do.

“I started the test today a little conservative,” he continued. “Then, as it went on, she started to breathe and I let her go a bit more and the passage was really nice. Our mission is to get her more relaxed in the one-tempis, but the pirouettes were super. At the end, she stood there while people clapped—I was very proud that she didn’t explode.”

Orlob has had the ride on the “sensitive, energetic” mare for two years after taking over from owner Alice Tarjan.

“I’m slowly finding her buttons, and she’s trusting me,” he concluded. “It’s starting to turn into a relationship. All the travelling and the desensitizing is paying off; it just took time.”

**Cascade of Personal Bests in 5* Special**

Brittany Fraser on Jill Irving's Jaccardo

The top four riders in the class all pulled off personal bests under Florida’s picture-perfect blue winter skies. Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu’s second-placed mount Jaccardo — another 12-year-old by the Vivaldi stallion Desperado — scored 74.575%. Jaccardo, owned by Jill Irving, has been at international grand prix level for less than a year, and this was his first Special. The score was just 1% shy of the Canadian record in this test, which was set by Belinda Trussell and Anton at GDF in 2016.

California-based Geñay Vaughan rode her mother’s 15-year-old Bretton Woods gelding, Gino, to a new best score in this test of 71.681%.

**3* Special for Meagan Davis**

Meagan Davis (USA) and Toronto Lightfoot posted a new personal best of 71.489% to claim the blue ribbon in the 3* Grand Prix Special, judged by Sven Rothenberger, Karen Pavicic, Michael Osinski, Isobel Wessels, and Henning Lehrmann.

Camille Carrier Bergeron (CAN) slotted into second logging 70.936% on her family’s 16-year-old Fidertanz mare Finnländerin, whom she rode at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Last to go in the class of eight, Tina Konyot scooped third place with her own and Earle I. Mack LLC’s 12-year-old Everdale gelding, Grover.

Davis has been riding Toronto Lightfoot, Scott Durkin’s 13-year-old Totilas gelding, for four years, and they are now in their third season of international Grand Prix. They have won three of their four international starts in the past six weeks.

“We had some mistakes [in Thursday’s Grand Prix, where they finished fifth] and a lack of confidence in the show ring, so to then come in today and be able to shine and show everybody all of the work that he and I have put in together was really exhilarating,” said Davis, who splits her time between Loxahatchee, FL, and Saugerties, NY.

“I’ve had great horses along the way, but Toronto is the whole package,” she continued. “He is a gentleman on the ground. He knows when he’s there to perform and he wants to be out there doing his job for me—you can’t ask more of a horse than that. To go in there with a partner like that is extremely awe-inspiring.

“Today I was really able to show Toronto’s expression and a self-carriage,” added Davis. “We had a little mistake in the beginning, but we recovered and he tried to stay with me. We’ve been working on finding the balance between expression and relaxation.”

With help from her coach, Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Ali Brock, Davis is aiming to be selected to compete in Europe this summer.

“That’s the big goal,” she confirmed. “We’re going to keep pushing, keep trying to get more personal bests. Seeing that up on the board was super exciting today, especially in the Special.”