A new 4-star dressage show is set for next month in Omaha, Neb., where it will be the test event for the 2017 Reem Acra FEI Dressage World Cup finals.
The competition at the International Omaha has drawn Canadian Olympian Jacquie Brooks, whose Hallelujah/Les Miserables freestyle with De Niro always brings the house down; her countrywomen, Karen Pavicic, a World Equestrian Games veteran and Evi Strasser.
Also competing for the total of $30,000 in prize money will be New Jersey-based Argentine Gabriel Armando, who is an international dressage judge, and six Americans. They include Jami Kment, a Nebraska resident who will be a local favorite. She is a U.S. Dressage Federation judge and U.S. Dressage Federation gold medalist; Floridian Anna Marek and Lauren Sprieser of Virginia, who had four top-10 placings at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Florida.
Others are Adrienne Pot of Illinois; Emily Miles of Kansas, a team bronze medalist at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships and reserve champion in the Grand Prix at the 2014 USDF national championships and adult amateur Suzie Halle of Colorado.
The test event, which runs May 5-7, also features show jumping, including the $130,000 International Grand Prix to close the competition.It will offer a look ahead to next year’s Longines FEI Show Jumping World Cup Final in the CenturyLink Center. Vendors and educational exhibits are also part of the show, presented by the Omaha Equestrian Foundation.
For information, go to internationalomaha.com.