On the Honor Roll

19 of 41

horses from the 2025 Highlands Cup Grand Prix

Wins on theIr Highlands Cup horse

4

by three exact combinations from Amenia

Round 1 clear rate

29.3%

12 of 41 clear inside the time

Most five-star horse shows ask spectators to come for the jumping. Highlands asks them to stay for everything else.

The Highlands Cup was built as something closer to a luxury sporting festival than a traditional equestrian competition, combining CSI5* jumping with fine dining, shopping, vintage automobiles, and hospitality in New York's Hudson Valley. Two editions in, it is becoming something else as well: one of the strongest indicators of championship-caliber sport on the North American calendar.

Last October's Grand Prix, a CSI5* class over 1.60m, carried a $340,000 purse and drew 41 combinations to Keane Stud. Only twelve horses jumped clear inside the time in the first round. That is a clear rate under thirty percent, and it says the course did exactly what a championship trial should.

2025 Highlands Cup Grand Prix

Podium

Horse	Rider	Nation	Place
Corsica X	Rene Dittmer	GER	I
Ace of Hearts	Gregory Wathelet	BEL	II
James Kann Cruz	Shane Sweetnam	IRL	III

The number that matters most arrived almost a year later. Nineteen of the 41 horses that jumped in last year's Highlands Cup Grand Prix have since been nominated for the FEI Jumping World Championships in Aachen this summer. Call it the Highlands Cup Honor Roll: nearly half of the 2025 Grand Prix field in the running for a world championship.

HIGHLANDS CUP

HONOR ROLL

In The Jump-Off

The eight who cleared Round 1

Eight of the nineteen jumped clear inside the time at Amenia and went on to the jump-off. Between them: Ireland, Canada, the United States, Israel, and Australia.

Horse	Rider	Nation	2025 Finish
James Kann Cruz	Shane Sweetnam	IRL	3rd
Fave d'Authuit	Erynn Ballard	CAN	4th
Clonterm Obolensky	Conor Swail	IRL	5th
High Star Hero	McLain Ward	USA	6th
La Contessa	Marilyn Little	USA	8th
Corbie V.V.	Daniel Bluman	ISR	9th
Kayenne Z	Kyle King	CAN	10th
Hialita B	Thaisa Erwin	AUS	12th

Since Amenia

Four wins, same horse

Three of the exact combinations that jumped at Highlands last October have already won at the top level since. Shane Sweetnam took the Rolex Grand Prix at Falsterbo with James Kann Cruz, and finished second on the same horse at the Rolex Grand Prix in Geneva. McLain Ward won twice with High Star Hero, in Wellington and at the World Cup qualifier in Arcadia. Kyle King won the Longines World Cup leg in Thermal with Kayenne Z, the same horse that finished tenth at Highlands.

Horse	Rider	Win
James Kann Cruz	Shane Sweetnam	Rolex Grand Prix, Falsterbo
High Star Hero	McLain Ward	CSI5* Grand Prix, Wellington
High Star Hero	McLain Ward	World Cup Qualifier, Arcadia
Kayenne Z	Kyle King	Longines World Cup, Thermal

Different Year, Different Horse

Honor Roll riders winning on different mounts

Three more Honor Roll riders have won at the top level since October, but not with the horse that carried them in the Highlands Cup Grand Prix. Abdel Saïd, competed on Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z in Amenia, has since won twice with other mounts from the Wathnan string: the Longines Global Champions Tour Super Grand Prix in Prague with Wathnan Bonne Amie, and the Grand Prix of Cannes with Wathnan Zasou Vom Claashof. Rodrigo Pessoa, who competed on Major Tom, won the $750,000 Grand Prix in Monterrey with Prins van 't Eigenlo. Conor Swail, who rode Clonterm Obolensky last October, won the World Cup leg in Toronto with Casturano.

Rider	Highlands Horse	Won On	Event
Abdel Saïd	Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z	Wathnan Bonne Amie	GCT Super GP, Prague
Abdel Saïd	Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z	Wathnan Zasou Vom Claashof	GCT Grand Prix, Cannes
Rodrigo Pessoa	Major Tom	Prins van 't Eigenlo	Grand Prix GNP, Monterrey
Conor Swail	Clonterm Obolensky	Casturano	Longines World Cup, Toronto

Also On The Roll

The remaining eleven

Eleven more nominees started last year's Grand Prix without reaching the jump-off. Two of their riders, Saïd and Pessoa, appear above with wins on different horses. All eleven combinations below remain part of the Honor Roll as nominated.

Major Tom	Rodrigo Pessoa · BRA
Precious Dwerse Hagen	Stella Wasserman · ISR
Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z	Abdel Saïd · BEL
Nikka VD Bisschop	Nina Mallevaey · FRA
Ideaal ES	Chris Pratt · CAN
Foxy de la Roque	Karl Cook · USA
Clitschko 17	Vanessa Hood · ISR
Kick On	Lillie Keenan · USA
Playboy JT Z	Charlotte Jacobs · USA
Dez' Ooktoff	Roberto Terán Tafur · COL
Jagger HX	Amy Millar · CAN

A nomination is not a start. Federations will narrow their lists to final championship teams by July 27. Some names on the Honor Roll will not travel to Aachen. The list reflects who was under consideration as of this preview.

A single Grand Prix does not usually produce a stat like that. Riders bring their championship horses to shows where the ground, the course, and the level of competition will tell them something real. Nineteen nominations out of 41 starters means the people setting selection criteria across at least six federations looked at what happened in Amenia last October and decided it counted.

Two editions into its current format, Highlands Cup likely to draw many of the horses and riders now preparing for the sport's biggest championship. This October's Grand Prix will offer more than a winner. It may offer an early look at the names shaping international jumping through the rest of the year.

This year's Highlands Cup runs October 8 through 12 at Keane Stud, the second half of Amenia's back-to-back run with the Silo Ridge Masters. If last year is any guide, a meaningful share of Aachen's field will be back on a plane to Amenia this fall.

Highlands Cup

Highlands Cup Honor Roll: World Championship Nominees

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