Thursday Dressage Sets the Tone for Friday's Best

The opening day of dressage at the series final delivered a few surprises, with the overall field performing slightly worse than expected. The average difference versus the average scores came in at +1.4. We saw Phillip take the lead while also setting the tone for what we can expect tomorrow on his other ride Possante.

Top Three Lead the Way

1. Phillip Dutton and Denim topped the leaderboard with an impressive 27.5, marking Dutton's best 4*-L test on US soil since Mystery Whisper at Jersey Fresh in 2012. This score came in 3.1 points better than expected to be the standout performance of the day. It's a spectacular start to the final for the man who led the series for so long but didn't manage to take the win.

2. Elisa Wallace and Lissavorra Quality sit in second place on 33.3 - coming in 1.6 points better than expected. Wallace delivered her second-best 4*-L score and the horse's second-best test at the level in their 12th 4* start. 

3. Ryan Wood and Cooley Flight round out the top three on 33.4, also scoring 2.5 points better than expectations. Wood saw this one coming, having spoken to our team a few weeks ago about his prepaations :

"He has had a great preparation with his last two events and having his lowest FEI dressage score. We are hoping that we can continue with that trend and impress the Australian selectors. We are lucky now to have a selector - Clayton Fredericks - based in the US so he can keep close tabs on what is going on here and report back to the homeland." 

Looking Ahead to Friday

All eyes will be on tomorrow's session, where three of the lowest predicted scores will take center stage. Due to the running order going from the lowest to highest placed in the series, we have a stacked Friday filled with some of the biggest names in the field.

1. Miks Master C (Boyd Martin, 11:00 AM) brings the field's best 6RA of 25.9. This new partnership has only completed two tests together, scoring 27 and 27.9, but the horse went as low as 20.1 with previous rider Liz Halliday-Sharp in 2023. Can Boyd unlock that potential or will it take more time to gel?

2. Possante (Phillip Dutton, 1:42 PM) comes in with a 28.8 6RA. Possante has gone sub-25 in two of his last three four-star starts including his 24.5 just three weeks ago at Plantation Field. This 12-year-old could give Dutton a real shot at maintaining an overnight lead. 

3. Off The Record (Will Coleman, 11:49 AM) arrives as a joint-favorite with a 30.3 6RA. Earlier this year, the Aachen winner demonstrated their class with a venue-record 21.8 at Kentucky, though followed that with a 35.6 at Aachen. Expect something between those extremes. Coleman will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing test with Very Dignified today, who scored 5.3 marks worse than expected. While this is an educational run for the relatively new combination, it has likely put 'Dora' out of contention for the weekend.

With Friday's dressage featuring the field's strongest predicted performers, the leaderboard could look very different by tomorrow evening.

Dressage takes place Thursday and Friday at the Grand Prix arena, with CCI4*-S tests also interspersed throughout the schedule.

You can watch the live stream for free through the USEF network. Sign up for free here: https://www.usef.org/membership/join-renew and watch live here: https://www.clipmyhorse.tv/en_EU/events/16790

Check out the fan guide here:  https://usequestrianopen.info/thefinal2025/

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