The Open Weekly: Kellerhouse Closes Out Qualifying and Descartes SR Joins the Farrington Lineage

This Week

Eventing Kellerhouse Closes the Book at Woodside

Erin Kellerhouse & Ringwood Adios Amigo won the last qualifier of the 2026 US Equestrian Open of Eventing at Woodside Fall International on Saturday. It was the 10-year-old’s first international win and it came at the horse’s second CCI4*-S start.

Woodside Fall International CCI4*-S, Final Result

#	Rider / Horse	Score
1	Erin Kellerhouse Ringwood Adios Amigo	60.0
2	Tamie Smith Spiro P	69.1
W	Erin Kellerhouse Bon Vivant GWF	W/D

Final scores in penalties, lowest wins. W/D: withdrawn.

Smith arrived with the Series already won and one more target in reach. A sixth qualifier win of the season would have filled every counting slot with a victory. Second place leaves that set one short.

For Kellerhouse, the venue is familiar ground. This is her third CCI4*-S win and her second at Woodside. The first came in October 2021 with Woodford Reserve, the same horse that won the Temecula CCI4*-S that March. Five years on, she has a new four-star winner.

Qualifying Is Done. Morven Park Is Next.

Twenty qualifiers. Coast to coast. Bouckaert last October to Woodside at the weekend. The qualifying window is now shut, and every result in the Series is final.

The horses are arriving to Morven Park as you read this. The first horse inspection is on Wednesday, and the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final runs from October 8 to 11. The field carries an Elo Field Strength of 553. Among CCI4*-Ls on US soil in the last ten years, only The Fork at Tryon in November 2020 rated higher. Read the full field breakdown.

Every phase, every storyline and every result will be covered across the Open channels on Instagram, and Facebook. One title left to settle. Four days to settle it.

Jumping Descartes SR Follows the Farrington Formula

Kent Farrington’s Descartes SR is the highest-rated nine-year-old in the world. Second place in the MLSJ Grand Prix of Greenwich took him to an Elo rating of 716, 10 points clear of McKayla Langmeier & Riesling van de Gaathoeve on 706. Elo rates horses on who they beat, and who beats them, in every CSI4*/5* round at 1.50m and above.

The season has been built at the top level from the start. Descartes SR won on his five-star 160 debut, the MLSJ Grand Prix at Lexington in April. Third in the $750,000 Grand Prix at Monterrey followed, then a team podium in the Falsterbo Nations Cup and back-to-back seconds at Rockwood and Greenwich.

The Formula

Farrington has been here before. Six of the top 100 Elo ratings recorded by nine-year-olds since 2010 belong to his horses. Four of the six went on to win multiple five-star Grands Prix.

By most standards, 716 at nine is elite. By Farrington’s, it is the entry mark. Descartes SR shares the lowest nine-year-old rating of the six with Gazelle, who went on to win 14 times at five-star 160 level. Creedance holds the high of 726.

The benchmark lives in the same barn. Greya was rated 720 at nine. She is on 787 today, with 12 five-star 160 wins behind her.

Fourth in Barcelona

Team USA finished fourth in the Longines League of Nations Final at CSIO Barcelona on Sunday, on 12 faults. Laura Kraut & Tres Bien Z and McLain Ward & Jordan Molga M both jumped double clear. Langmeier & Riesling van de Gaathoeve had four and eight. Germany won on four, with Brazil second on the same score and Belgium third on five.

Dressage Where Are Last Year’s Twelve?

Twelve riders started last year’s US Equestrian Open of Dressage Final. With one qualifier left this season, how many of them do you think are currently in the top 18?

One.

Geñay Vaughn (7th) is the only 2025 rider currently qualified, and she’s perfectly safe. Twelve riders would have to pass her at TerraNova to knock her out, and it’s pretty unlikely that the class even draws 12 entries.

The rest of last year’s finalists are scattered below the qualification line.

Nine have 2026 starts, spread from 19th (Nadine Schwartsman) all the way down to 48th (Karen Lipp). The other two, Felicitas Hendricks and Jan Ebeling, haven’t started in the Series this year, and the two-start minimum means they’re out of the running.

Whether the other nine have a shot at qualification depends entirely on TerraNova.

Here’s what that takes against today’s leaderboard numbers.

You’re in for a rough weekend if you’re one of the five riders at the bottom of the table. Ben Ebeling, Laura De Cesari, Anna Marek and Charlotte Jorst each need a win for qualification. So does Lipp, but hers has to be worth the full 25, which only happens with 11 or more starters. It’s unlikely TerraNova will draw that many entries (last year had 8).

The top three have a different problem. Schwartsman, Kristina Harrison-Antell and Laine Ashker can clear today’s line with any placing at all. But if all three show up and score, each one raises the bar for the other two.

TerraNova’s fall dressage show takes place October 15. Stay tuned as we preview the field and make predictions about 2026’s final qualifier.