Back in the Start Box: The 2027 US Equestrian Open of Eventing Begins at Bouckaerts
Twelve days ago Sharon White lifted the trophy at Morven Park. On Friday she is back in the start box, on zero, with everyone else. Nine combinations open the 2027 Series at Bouckaert.
If you have just joined us, you picked a good moment. The 2026 Series ended with Tamie Smith winning the title on a record 265 points, Will Coleman & Off The Record finishing second at the Final for the second year in a row, and Sharon White & Claus 63, at their fourth attempt at Morven Park, winning the whole thing eighteen years after her last long-format four-star win. We have barely caught our breath. The next Series starts on Friday.
Bouckaert Equestrian in Fairburn, Georgia hosts the first of twenty qualifiers on the road to the 2027 Final. Nine combinations are entered in the CCI4*-S. Every one of them starts on zero, and the winner banks the first 40 points of the new season on Sunday. Only two qualifiers run before the winter break, Bouckaert this week and The Event at TerraNova in November, so whoever leads on Sunday night could still be leading in March. The Fan Guide, with the numbers on every combination, lands later this week.
Sharon White & Jaguars Duende at Tryon. Photo: Shannon Brinkman
| New to the Open? How the Series works, in two minutes → |
| How Tamie Smith won the 2026 Series on a record 265 points → |
| Eighteen years between wins: how Sharon White got back to the top → |
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The Champion, on a Different Horse Sharon White & Jaguars Duende · 18% win chance |
Claus 63 stays home. White rides Jaguars Duende, the only horse in the field with a CCI4*-S win on US soil: Tryon in May 2025, a qualifier in the inaugural Series. His show jumping is the selling point. A 0.67 SJ6 is the second lowest of the nine, and across those six rounds he has jumped 2.7 faults better than the course average.
His 2026 has been uneven. Twelfth at Fair Hill after 40 cross-country jumping penalties, retired at Plantation Field in September, then eighth in the Morven Park CCI3*-S on 45.6 two weeks ago. Three completions from four four-star starts in the US, two of them on the podium. The Prediction Centre gives him an 18% chance of the win and a 47% chance of the podium, third in the field on both counts.
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How many horses in the field have started a CCI4*-S at Bouckaert before? Tap to reveal ▾None. Zero of nine. Their riders have 23 Bouckaert four-star starts between them, and Alexandra Knowles owns ten of those. |
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Who Can Beat Her The two combinations the Prediction Centre rates ahead of her |
The favorite is Alexa Thompson & Api du Libaire at 36%, double White's chance. The 16-year-old carries the highest Elo in the field at 592 and by far the deepest record. Through 2024 he was Maxime Livio's horse: 17 four-star starts for France, four of them wins, the last of those the Montelibretti CCI4*-L in November 2023 on 29.3. His final run for Livio was Lignières in September 2024. Then twenty months without an international start.
Thompson has had him out three times since May, all at CCI3*, with a third in the Tryon CCI3*-L in September on 38.8 the best of them. His 91% TSP still leads this field. Friday is Thompson's first CCI4* start since Rebecca Farm in July 2024, and she won that one, on Just To Be Clear.
Alexandra Knowles & P.S. I Love You sit second at 23%. Knowles knows this track better than anyone entered: ten Bouckaert CCI4*-S starts since 2019, and a second and a third here in August on two other horses. P.S. I Love You is ten for ten jumping clear in his last ten internationals, and his adjusted clear rate of +32% is the best in the field. The question is freshness. He has not started since Kentucky in April.
Nobody else is above 5%. Jonathan Holling, the 2014 winner here, has two rides. Katie Malensek, fourth in the fall 2024 running, has two more. Sara Kozumplik won this fall qualifier in both 2023 and 2024 on Rock Phantom and brings As Good As Cash for his second four-star. Michael Pollard & Saint Estephe make the only level debut.
Three combinations hold 77% of the win chance between them. The other six share 23%.
Win chance and podium probability via the EquiRatings Prediction Centre, pre-competition.
Follow the odds live in the Prediction Centre →Bouckaert is not a place to finish on your dressage score. One combination in 314 starters has managed it across 17 CCI4*-S runnings, and four have made the cross-country time. Winners here average 8.7 time penalties. The lead changes hands after dressage more often than not: nine of the 17 winners were not in front after the first phase.
Nine combinations. Twenty qualifiers. Every rider on zero. The road to Morven Park 2027 starts Friday.
This week in The Open Weekly
Eventing Bouckaert restarts the Series → Twelve days after Morven Park, qualifying resumes in Fairburn. Nine entries, two qualifiers before the winter break. Jumping Ward's birthday breakthrough at Tryon → McLain Ward & High Star Hero won the 51st MLSJ Grand Prix on his 51st birthday, 1.62 seconds clear of a six-horse jump-off. Dressage Kane wins TerraNova and qualifying closes → Devon Kane & Vamos took the final qualifier on a personal-best 75.505%. All 25 qualifiers done, 18 riders invited to Thermal. Read The Open Weekly →Join the conversation
Daily highlights, behind-the-scenes content, and live updates from Bouckaert all weekend.
The Mission of the Open
The mission of the US Equestrian Open is to grow and foster a deeper connection to equestrian sport by delivering a premier, unified championship series that engages a broader fanbase through top-level competition, storytelling, and a dynamic, entertaining experience.
