Christian Simonson (Ventura, Calif.) and Son of a Lady (Soreldo x Western Lady), Christina Morgan and Clifton Simonson’s 2011 Danish Warmblood gelding, earned the coveted Brentina Cup title. The win was especially meaningful for Simonson, who trains with Adrienne Lyle, a past Brentina Cup champion herself. Lyle, in turn, trained with Debbie McDonald, the longtime trainer and rider of the horse for whom the class is named.

“This is our last big show of the summer,” said Simonson. “This is a green year for ‘Sonny.’ It’s his first year at Grand Prix. My expectations were just trying to give him the best rides I can and have him trust me more and more, and I think we really achieved that this weekend. He gave me such a good feeling all three days, and I’m just incredibly thankful to him. I’m thankful to Adrienne and the team we have here. Adrienne just flew in from Paris and came here and is helping me, so I cannot be more thankful to her.”

Simonson said that he intentionally kept the degree of difficulty fairly low on his freestyle since it’s his and Sonny’s first year at the level. Instead, the focus was on building confidence.

“The music itself is kind of young,” said Simonson. “I think it’s fun because it’s a youthful class, the under-25, and so we kind of have dance techno music, which I think also kind of highlights how fun he is and how spicy of a horse he is.”

Josh Albrecht (Oroville, Calif.) and Goldenboy Vickenburgh (Apache x Tandafanory), Coalcyn Equestrian LLC’s 2011 Dutch Warmblood gelding, performed an ambitious freestyle set to music by Imagine Dragons, and secured their reserve champion position.

“I really like the music,” said Albrecht. “It’s fun. It’s upbeat. I actually picked that music because my horse could be kind of calm and quiet, so I wanted outgoing music that would make me push to get there and rise to the music.”

Albrecht and “G Boy” have been a partnership for less than a year, but they’ve had a successful one already, with top performances at the FEI North American Youth Championship (NAYC) a few weeks ago.

“It was a little bit of a crazy time in between NAYC, and I was really excited to be here,” said Albrecht. “It was really fun to do the class, and I’ve been really enjoying watching all the young horse classes. It’s the first year of me showing this horse here. I’ve only been riding him since November, so we’re kind of green—he’s not; I am—so my goal has just kind of been to be the best partner for him in the ring that I can be.”

Sophia Schults (Ocala, Fla.) and Conocido HGF (Cosaco XI x Luz De Luna HGF), her own 2012 PRE gelding, had good performances throughout the week to finish in third place. Like Simonson and Albrecht, Schults also competed successfully at NAYC just a few weeks ago.

“It’s our first year doing the U25 for both myself and my horse, so everything has been a learning curve,” she said. “At North Americans, we learned a lot that we were going to implement this week, and he gave me everything he had in the U25 test. Overall, I’m super, super happy.”

Schults’s music complements her bold-moving PRE well.

“The music is from a movie that was made about Ernest Hemingway when he did a trip to Spain, and he became very enchanted with the country,” she said. “Marlene Whitaker is the one who made it. It’s very dynamic, very Spanish. We lean into it, so it’s a little bit difficult in some aspects for our greenness, but it’s totally okay. We’re learning a lot, so we’re happy.”

Competition Information:

The 2024 FOC takes place Aug. 19-25, at HITS Chicago Lamplight Equestrian Center in Wayne, Ill. Competition takes place in two arenas and will be broadcast on USEF Network. Bookmark the FOC event page on USEF.org for the latest coverage of this year’s show.

Ring Schedule | Orders of Go and Results

2024 Festival of Champions Livestream

The U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions will be streamed live on USEF Network. US Equestrian members, subscribers, and fans can watch all classes live. Not a member? Sign up for a free fan account now!