Last Updated on March 22, 2026 by adminahb
Jordan LaPlaca & Gold Play. Photo ©Centre Line Media
Wellington, Fla. – March 21, 2026 — Jordan LaPlaca threw his arms in the air and hugged Gold Play after their final salute in the Modon FEI Nations Cup CDIO3* Grand Prix Special. He was justifiably delighted with his own and Nancy Huton’s 11-year-old, for the Grey Flanell x Sir Donnerhall II gelding had just sealed a double of gold medals for LaPlaca on the U.S. rider’s senior team debut. Their individual glory followed team gold on Thursday of Week 11 at the 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL.
The jewel in the crown of a breakthrough debut CDI grand prix season, LaPlaca and Gold Play — the youngest horse in the class — set a new personal best of 71% in the Special. Their score relegated the in-form pair of Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu (CAN) and Jill Irving’s 12-year-old Desperado x Jazz gelding, Jaccardo, into the silver medal position on 70.362%.
They were joined on the podium by Anna Marek (USA), whose 68.021% on her sister-in-law Cynthia Davila’s Fayvel earned the bronze. The result was impressive given that Marek and the 16-year-old Zizi Top x Houston gelding were only called up at the last minute to ride in the Nations Cup.
LaPlaca and Gold Play displayed exemplary use of the arena with textbook deep, balanced corners, as well as beautiful piaffe and passage work with seamless gear changes. There was a hiccup in the beginning of the first line of one-time changes, but Gold Play was enjoying the second set down the centerline so much that he decided to add two extra changes. Despite the glitches, the judges awarded plenty of eights, with the high score of 72.553% coming from H judge Susanne Baarup (DEN).
“I honestly expected none of this, and I’m a little bit in shock,” said LaPlaca. “Riding for the U.S. team is not only a privilege, it’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. It’s what kept me inspired to learn, to teach, and to keep going. It’s incredibly humbling and an honor and I don’t take lightly. I just wanted to give my horse a good season and a good go at the CDI3* level, and it ended up in a gold medal. It’s what dreams are made of.”
Jane Karol Tops CDI3* Grand Prix Special
As the second of 14 riders to go in the Diamante Farms CDI3* Grand Prix Special, Jane Karol was surprised to find herself still atop the leaderboard at the conclusion of the class in which U.S riders filled the top four spots. She rode her own 11-year-old Vivaldi x Blue Hors Don Schufro mare Vioretta to 68.17%, with a high score of 71.064% from the judge at C, Germany’s Pascal Strohbücker.
Bianca Berktold and Imperial finished just 0.021 percentage points adrift with 68.149%. The 13-year-old mare is by Charmeur and out of a Vivaldi dam — another horse to benefit from the prolific sire’s benevolent dressage genetics. Kevin Kohmann and Equine Law Group’s 15-year-old gelding, Famous, were the only males on the podium, claiming third with 67.276%.
“To win is completely surprising because I really wasn’t expecting to stay in that place, and I had a terrible ride in the grand prix on Thursday, so I’m overjoyed,” said Karol, who was riding Vioretta in just her second CDI. “She’s an incredible horse. I just have to ride her well, but she’s got it all. I’ve worked with her since she was six, and she has everything it takes, but I have to produce it. If I do it right, she gives me 200 percent.”
Karol, who is dressage rider Hope Cooper’s mother, bought Vioretta at the 2021 P.S.I. Auction, despite the fact that she was on the strong side.
“Hope saw Vioretta’s video and said, ‘Mom, that’s your horse.’ We knew people who had ridden her, and they said she was kind of strong,” explained Karol, whose summer base is in Massachusetts. “Viola Abrahams and [my coach] Christoph Koschel said that they were different types of riders, and they thought she would be a good match for me. And because she was a little strong, she was not in the top price bracket.
“She came to me with a bit of an underneck, but I like to ride from behind and keep it soft in front, so I’ve been creating relaxation,” continued Karol, who has a doctorate in psychology and runs an equine psychotherapy facility alongside the family’s dressage barn. “It took years to get the right topline and have her reaching over the back, and I’m still working on that. She has so much power. The rest will come.
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