The Open Weekly: Aachen Week & the 100th Aga Khan

Eventing Eight Aachen Rides Came Through the Series

Eight of the combinations going down the centre line at the World Championships in Aachen this week carry a 2026 US Equestrian Open start on their record. Fourteen Series runs sit behind them, from single entries to a three-qualifier spring, across four nations.

Series leader Tamie Smith won both her starts on Lillet 3, and the Carolina International win rated 99 on HPR, the best performance of the 2026 Series. Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Blake rated 98 from a single run. William Coleman & Diabolo won at TerraNova in November before going on to the Defender Kentucky CCI5* in April. Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton and the three visiting nations all built through the same spring calendar.

Aachen sits in the middle of the Series, not at the end of it. Five qualifiers remain before the $200,000 Final at Morven Park.

Jumping Team USA Take the Aga Khan on Its Hundredth

Team USA won the Aga Khan Trophy at the Dublin Horse Show without a fault. Two rounds, zero on the board, a ninth American win on the hundredth anniversary of the trophy. Ireland took second on four, Switzerland third on eight.

Karl Cook & Caracole de la Roque and Paris Sellon & Chad Blue PS went double clear. Natalie Dean & Mr Boombastic jumped clear in the first round. Laura Kraut & Baloutinue had a pole in the first round, the American drop score, and came back to jump clear in the second. Each of the four supplied a counting round.

Ireland went into the second round level on zero. Daniel Coyle & Farrel and Jordan Coyle & Chaccolino both went clear again. Shane Sweetnam & Coriaan van Klapscheut Z had one down. Kraut went second last and jumped clear, which left Cian O’Connor & Kentucky TN going last and needing a clear round to force a jump-off. A pole came down. Tight at the finish, and hard on the home side.

For Sellon, this was a first five-star team Nations Cup, on a horse she has only had since the start of the year. 

Aga Khan Trophy, Team Classification

#	Team	Total
1	United States of America	0
2	Ireland	4
3	Switzerland	8

Dressage Davis and Perry-Glass Step Into the Aachen Team

Toronto Lightfoot goes first for the US in Aachen, and Meagan Davis only found out late last week that she was riding him down the centre line. They came up from reserve when Geñay Vaughn & Gino pulled out. That makes two changes to the team in a month.

Davis won the US Equestrian Open Ocala qualifier in February, and in March she rode on the US team that took Nations Cup gold at Wellington, ending Germany’s five-year hold on the title. She sits 24th in the Series on 23 points.

The other change came on August 5, when Kasey Perry-Glass & Heartbeat W.P. came in for Jordan LaPlaca & Gold Play. Perry-Glass and Heartbeat W.P. have leaned on the Special this year, winning the class at TerraNova and at WEC.

Ashley Holzer and Christian Simonson are the two names left from July’s original four. All four horses cleared the first inspection on Monday.

Davis opens the American effort. Perry-Glass is the last US rider in the ring on Tuesday, and Holzer closes it out on Wednesday. Two late calls, and both of them ride on day one.