United States Eventing Association

Bromont, Quebec, Canada—June 4—The 50th anniversary celebration of the 1976 Olympics hosted at the Bromont Olympic Equestrian Park continued on Thursday with the commencement of dressage competition for the 2026 MARS Bromont CCI.

Dressage concludes on Friday before our competitors will tackle Derek di Grazia’s and Jay Hambly’s cross-country courses on Saturday.

Fresh off a fourth-place finish in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S at Defender Kentucky in April, West Virginia-based Sharon White slotted into the CCI4*-L lead with her own Claus 63. The pair earned a 31.4 from judges Sandy Phillips (GBR), Joachim Dimmek (GER) and Peter Gray (CAN). White has prioritized the reinforcement of foundation and ensuring the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Catoo x Tina II) is “real solid” at this four-star level before he steps back up to the five-star level.

“He was so with me. Nothing was forced—it was very fluid,” White commented. “I'm thrilled. I’m slightly disappointed by the score, but you know what? It's not a dressage competition, and it's all fine. He was in an uphill, beautiful, easy balance, he was fluid, he was right there. So I was just so happy with him.”

White last competed at MARS Bromont in 2022, and while it used to feature regularly on her calendar, it hasn’t quite worked out to return, but she’s brought three horses with her to compete this weekend in various divisions.

“It's such a proper cross-country test and challenge, so I really thought it was the thing to do with him,” she said. “It's a great fitness challenge, and again, I'm working on some things, so I didn't do Kentucky [five-star], so I really am happy with the cross-country course—there's enough to do. I think it'll be exactly what he needs. Sometimes you have to just go back and get real solid, and that's what we're doing.”

Pennsylvania-based Isabelle Bosley sits in second after this first phase of competition with Karen Martin’s Conner, scoring a 32.5 from the ground jury. This weekend is a first CCI4*-L effort for this pair. Following behind Bosley is 2025 MARS Bromont champion Lauren Nicholson, who brought Ms. Jacqueline Mars’ Landmarks Jungle’s Gold (top 10 in the CCI4*-L at Scone Palace in Scotland in 2025) this weekend and earned a 33.0.

First-time MARS Bromont Rising participant Rebecca Roth is the day one leader of the CCI3*-L division with about half of the competitors yet to come on Friday. Roth scored a 34.8 with her off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding, Chapter Two (More Than Ready x Winds Of March). The 14-year-old gelding raced 15 times before retiring and also participated in the Retired Racehorse Project Thoroughbred Makeover with Kentucky-based Alison O’Dwyer before he was sold to Roth. Since then, Roth and Chapter Two have done many of their firsts together as they move up the levels, and this weekend marks their fourth CCI3*-L.

Roth, who is based in Ocala, Florida, is making her first start at MARS Bromont after having it on her event bucket list for many years. She was eager to apply for the MARS Bromont Rising program, noting that her favorite educational session so far has been a dressage test briefing with Gray and Bettina Hoy. This gave her some tools and some other elements of her test riding to think about for her ride today.

“Dressage is so subjective, so it’s nice to hear from people you’re getting judged by,” Roth commented. “It was a pretty quick turnaround from yesterday [to today’s test] but I think I was able to add a few things.

“Two of my three longs were in Ocala, and then I did do Maryland [CCI3*-L] last year, so it was very nice to have that under my belt, because this cross-country is looking quite similar terrain-wise, where it's very different from Ocala,” Roth said of Saturday’s cross-country challenge. “I think I have a better head on my shoulders this time around, having done Maryland. It’s a good course [Derek] has out. I've been out there, it looks great, but there's a lot of work to be done.”

Lucienne Bellissimo traveled up from her North Carolina base with the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding Dyri (Diarado, x La Calera) and now takes the first-phase lead with a score of 26.1. Dyri has competed to the CCI4* level, but some spookiness on cross-country prompted Bellissimo to aim for a confidence and foundation-boosting run at this lower level as she ramps up for a proper fall season.

“The sole purpose of bringing Dyri here this week is to give him a chance to breathe in the dressage in a test without changes, have a solid Intermediate level run cross-country, which the two-star here always feels a challenge enough, as he finds terrain tiring,” Bellissimo commented. “He reverted to spooking at his last four-star run cross-country at Tryon, and needs building up in his head and heart again. The approach worked well for him in 2025. My aim for him is Morven [Park] four-star Long in October, so he’ll have the next few months punctuated by good quality lower level two- and three-star FEI events. He felt super through all of his test today.”

There is one more test to come in the U25 CCI2*-L (Olivia Dutton and Dresden, who will ride on Friday), but for now at least, it’s Virginia-based Janelle Fleming leading the way with Romulo Roux’s Global Cassero 3 (Conteur x Wahida) on a score of 28.6.

Fleming, who’s an assistant trainer and program manager for Sara Kozumplik, is using this weekend to build more experience with a horse who’s become a part of Kozumplik’s growing riding academy out of Overlook Farm in Virginia as well as Florida.

“This is actually a horse that's owned by a client of ours, and so I ride him at home, and it's actually only my fourth show with him, but I do know him quite well,” Fleming elaborated. “But he's actually an interesting horse that I'm going to be able to do some Intermediates and three-stars on later in the year, hopefully. But also, we're able to use him for our own students at home and clients to lease. That's a really interesting part of Overlook's business, and ‘Jerry's’ a really good and honest and trustworthy horse for that kind of thing.”

Dressage continues beginning at 9:00 a.m. on Friday with the conclusion of the CCI2*-L. The CCI4*-S riders will also get their weekends underway with dressage beginning at approximately 2:06 p.m.

Live streaming can be found both on ClipMyHorse.TV as well as free of charge on the Bromont Horse Trials Youtube channel.

On Thursday evening, the VIP Tent was packed with supporters at the Red, White & Gold party held to fundraise support for Equestrian Canada and the Canadian Eventing Team's efforts to compete on the international and Championship stage. In addition to a silent and online auction, several valuable items—including gorgeous artwork, memorabilia and even a surprise of MARS Experience VIP tickets to MARS Badminton and Defender Kentucky, which were added to the live auction by the on-site MARS team—were auctioned off to a raucous crowd encouraged by auction hosts Annie Bishop, Jessica Phoenix and Waylon Roberts. A final fundraising tally will be announced in the near future.

Several Equestrian Canada awards were also handed out, including the Laframboise Family Legacy Award, which was given to Yves Rossier, DVM for his contributions in veterinary medicine, education and an ongoing dedication to the health and welfare of the horses. Kendal Lehari was honored as the Equestrian Canada 2025 Coach of the Year, Mike Winter's El Mundo was awarded Equestrian Canada 2025 Horse of the Year for, among other achievements, securing the best Canadian five-star finish in nearly two decades.

Lastly but certainly not least, Bromont organizer and eventing legend Sue Ockendon was honored with a lengthy standing ovation as she received the Equestrian Canada Lifetime Achievement Award.

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