To step to the top of the podium in the Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix, the athletes will first have to find all the answers to the questions asked by FEI Level 4 course designer Guilherme Jorge – who is responsible for the courses during the final week of WEF competition for the 11th time in his career.

“Being part of the Rolex Series, with the $1,000,000 Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix as the last Grand Prix to conclude twelve weeks of showing at the Winter Equestrian Festival adds a lot to the competition,” Guilherme Jorge tells as he is preparing for the first Rolex Series-event of the 2026 season. “I think it is a very nice feature for Wellington to be included in the Rolex Series.”

“Wellington International draws a really good crowd on Saturday nights,” Jorge explains. “The atmosphere is really good and positive. The venue in Wellington has a lot of involvement from the surrounding community, with many non-equestrians coming to the night-time events and learning about the sport. I think several of them enjoy the fact that the final Grand Prix of the Winter Equestrian Festival is part of the Rolex Series, which naturally attracts the best horses and riders in the world.”

“Increasing the prize money to $1,000,000 has made the Rolex Grand Prix in Wellington even more attractive,” Jorge continues. “I am expecting a top group of horses and riders, and with this kind of prize purse, the course will be a true championship track. It is not only the last of a twelve-week circuit, but also a very important Grand Prix in itself. I expect the riders to arrive with their horses in top shape, and the idea is to build a course according to the starting field and to the prize money – and even more so, to the standard of the Rolex Series.” 

“As to the course design, I will have to wait a little bit throughout the circuit to decide how I'm going to build because it's the last of twelve weeks of top showjumping,” Jorge points out. “I have to assess a little bit what the other course designers have done prior to this – especially when it comes to where I'm going to place the water jump – so that we get variety. With a little decoration, we will make it special for the final week.”

“The Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix is the only one out of the seven competitions part of the Rolex Series to be jumped under floodlights, and I think it really varies from horse to horse how they cope with it,” Jorge tells about one of the factors that will come into play during the first Rolex Grand Prix of the season. “There are horses that jump better under the lights, because they get a little bit more impressed when everything in many ways is brighter with the artificial light. However, it really depends on each horse. With this type of lights, we have to consider carefully how we place the Liverpools and the water jump, so that there is not too much reflection. That being said, with the quality that we are expecting in this starting field, I assume that most of the horses have jumped under the lights on previous occasions so it should not be too much of a factor.”