What do Henrik von Eckermann of Sweden, Germany’s Tony Stormanns, and Belgium’s Nicola Philippaerts have in common? They are all world-class jumpers who have chosen to compete at the 2025 Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington.
A mecca for horse lovers, Wellington is home to the International Equestrian Center and hosts the Winter Equestrian Festival each year from January to March. The WEF is the largest and longest-running equestrian event in the world. Riders from across the globe and all 50 states make the journey to Wellington to compete for major accolades and large cash prizes.
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These three are no stranger to championship wins. They have galloped onto the international stage with heart-stopping performances, and are now preparing for their journey to South Florida, where they will challenge their peers in the highest level of international showjumping competition.
- Ranked as the world’s number one show jumper, Henrik von Eckermann made his Wellington debut with a win when he took a $32,000 prize riding Glamour Girl. He led the Swedish team to their first gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo equestrian show jumping since 1924, and became the first Swede to win the individual world title. His horse, King Edward, was dubbed the best horse in the world. Last year, he won the show jumping World Cup Final.
- Tony Stormanns won a $50,000 Grand Prix at the WEF and the young jockey also finished second in the Under 25 Welcome earlier the same day. Stormanns took the individual gold at the FEI Jumping European Championship for Young Riders, Juniors and Children in 2022.
- Nicola Philippaerts’ distinguished career includes being the first medallist in the history of Equestrian at the Youth Olympic Games where he won a gold medal. He finished fifth at the Longines International Grand Prix of Ireland at the Dublin Horse Show; took the gold at the European Young Riders Show Jumping Championship in Portugal, and the silver at the Belgian senior championship. At Wellington he won the $62,500 Adequan CS14 WEF Challenge Cup Round Three.
Along with these world champions and their entourage, Wellington is expected to play host to thousands of fans and horse aficionados from around the globe, earning big money during its internationally-famous equestrian season. WEF’s inflow of jockeys, show horses, and their legions of fans has just begun.
At Stake this Year…
Wellington International recently announced an increase in prize money to $750,000 for the Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix, in addition to the two $500,000 CSI5* grand prix offerings.
Eckermann, Stormanns, and Philippaerts are just three of the champion riders competing at this year’s WEF, which kicked off January 1st and will feature 13 weeks of competition. Twelve of those weeks will offer Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) classes. FEI is the governing body for equestrian sports around the world.
Four of these competition weeks will feature CSI5* or Concours de Saut International competition with a five-star ranking, which indicates a prestigious, high-level event involving the most challenging course and offering the biggest prize money. Included in these CSI events is the Rolex Grand Prix CSI5*.
Other events include the WCHR Hunter Spectacular, the BrainJuice U25 Grand Prix Series, the WEF Equitation Championship, the Adequan WEF Challenge Cup classes, and a team hunter exhibition.
Winter Equestrian Festival
Held annually in Wellington, the Winter Equestrian Festrival translates into a huge economic impact not only for the town, it also generates hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for Palm Beach County through tourism, horse-related spending, and job creation. In 2023, the event’s economic impact was approximately $352 million, creating over 3,300 jobs. In 2024, the WEF generated over $180 million in direct horse-related spending and $57.1 million in direct visitor expenditures. The event routinely attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators from all over the country. This year’s event is expected to play host to over 350,000 spectators who come from all over the world to see over 6,000 riders and 7,000 horses compete for a total of millions of dollars in prize money
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