By Alice Collins for Wellington International

A personal best of 70.66% on her own Katholt’s Bossco catapulted 26-year-old Codi Harrison (USA) to the top of the leaderboard in the Mission Control Grand Prix Special CDI3* in Week 8 of the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL. AGDF hosts seven weeks of CDI competition over three months and runs through April 2.

Of the 13 starters, it was fellow American rider Katie Duerrhammer who snuck in just behind Harrison with a 70.213% on Kylee Lourie’s 12-year-old gelding Paxton, by Dante Weltino, with 70.213%. Third-placed Morgan Barbançon also put down a plus-70% score, finishing with 70.17% on her own 11-year-old Habana Libre A, by Zizi Top.

Harrison, who has brought Katholt’s Bossco, by Don Schufro, up the levels from Young Riders said, “I was a bit nervous because it was really hot and he’s not a horse that thrives in that, but he stayed with me the whole ride and I went in feeling like he was through and he wanted to work.

“We struggled through some Young Riders together and I never expected him to be a grand prix horse, yet here we are. The piaffe and the passage felt really nice and that’s become his highlight, he’s really confident and rideable and keeps his rhythm,” added the rider from Wellington, FL. “He’s not the most laterally supple horse, so the half-passes are always something we’re working on to make them more fluent and supple but I was thrilled with the overall feel and that he stayed with me in this heat and kept trucking along.”

Harrison attributes much of the 16-year-old gelding’s success to his varied workout routine.

“He’s the same every day no matter what; he’s unflappable,” she added. “We take him in the field, we go over little jumps, we go on hacks and he goes down the canals. He’s a really good boy with a good heart and a good head — the horse of a lifetime.

“I was just hoping to win something and today we did — so that was very exciting. Now we have three shows left and I’d like to do one more freestyle and then see where that leads us,” she concluded.

Of the 17 riders forward in the Intermediate I CDI1*, sponsored by Blukota Spirits, it was Germany’s Lars Ligus whose 73.441% personal best on Baron Bollwerk that proved impossible to catch. Christian Simonson (USA) filled second on the 13-year-old Fürstenball gelding Zeaball Diawind with a 71% test, while fellow American Ali Potasky captured the yellow ribbon with a 70.323% test on the 10-year-old Everdale mare Irintha.

Ligus scored many eights on the board en route to victory on Silke Abbelen-Mooren’s 12-year-old Bordeaux gelding. This is the pair’s first CDI season together and they were the reserve combination for Germany’s Nations Cup team last month.

Dressage competition in AGDF8 concludes on Sunday, with Children, Young Riders and the CDI1* Intermediate I Freestyle class, as well as further qualifiers in the Future Challenge classes; the Lövsta Future Challenge Intermediate II and the Prix St. Georges, presented by Buffalo Wild Wings. For more information and results, visit www.globaldressagefestival.com.

Click for full results from the CDI3* FEI Grand Prix Special, sponsored by Mission Control.