Felicitas Hendricks’ Disco Music Tops The Charts in First Friday Night Stars of 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival
By Alice Collins for Wellington International
The first ‘Friday Night Stars’ evening of freestyle competition at the 2025 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL, brought impressive performances and scores in the FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle, sponsored Palm Beach Equine Clinic.
On an unusually cold evening during Lloyd Landkamer Memorial week, Germany’s Felicitas Hendricks rode her own 14-year-old Drombusch OLD (Destano x Dimaggio) to a 78.2% victory as the last rider to go. The class was also a qualifier for the new US Equestrian Open of Dressage, which features 23 qualifiers—seven of which are at AGDF—before the final in California in November.
US Olympic team silver medalist Adrienne Lyle finished second with a 77.28% performance on Helix, reversing the placings from Thursday’s qualifying Grand Prix. Sweden’s seven-time Olympian Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén and Devanto’s 75.515% score secured third place.
Hendrix, who at 24 years old is still eligible to ride in under-25 classes, has returned to AGDF as a senior for the second year running after finishing as the top rider at AGDF 2024. Her test showed harmonious self-carriage coupled with power and balance and featured 20 one-time changes down the centerline.
“He exceeded my expectations, like he does every time,” said Hendrix, whose groom Yannick Schmitz was awarded a check for $500, courtesy of the Lövsta Future Challenge. “He leaves his heart in the ring. I can tell that he’s very happy to be back and he was loving the crowd. He was a little spicy, but in a good way.
“The main work we’ve been doing at home is still the same and won’t change—it’s very basic work of improving self-carriage and gaining more strength behind. I think that is a process that won’t ever stop, but I can tell that it’s really benefiting both of us. We take all that basic work into the exercises like the pirouettes and changes,” added Hendrix, who is planning to ride three further CDIs with Drombusch at AGDF, including the Nations Cup in week seven and week 10’s CDI5*.
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