Richard Vogel Flies to Victory in the CSI2* Grand Prix at WEC
One Tenth of a Second Separates First and Third
February 15, 2026 at 4:46 PMBy a.dunne
Germany's Richard Vogel and the 9-year-old Holsteiner stallion Cardentos topped the $65,000 CSI2* Grand Prix at the World Equestrian Center (WEC) on Sunday, closing out a week that featured the Longines World Cup™ - North American League (NAL) - Ocala.
Cardentos is a new ride for Vogel, and this week marked the pair's first FEI show together.
"He wants to be very, very careful, so I don't have to protect too much," Vogel said in a WEC Ocala interview. "I can actually really focus on having good foot speed and almost, in a way, attack the jump, and I think that was a good advantage today."
The world No. 6 stopped the timers 0.08 seconds faster than the runner-up, but margins were even tighter between other placings in the 1.45-meter class presented by Wild Horse Refuge.
It's been a successful week for Vogel, who also won the $10,000 CSI2* 1.40-meter speed class aboard Ballycotton on Saturday. He placed third with Quizas van 't Hulsbos in the $32,000 CSI2* Grand Prix Qualifier on Friday.
Razor-thin margins among some of the top nine
The margin was even narrower - 0.02 seconds - between the second-place finisher, Vaclav Stanek of the Czech Republic with the 12-year-old Canadian Sport Horse mare Langley, and the pair in third - Colombia's Mark Bluman and the 9-year-old Selle Francais mare Hastella.
It got even closer a few placings further down as one hundredth of a second came between Lisa Goldman-Smolen and Ben Maher, in sixth and seventh places, respectively.
Of the 37 in the class, 11 qualified for the jump-off, and eight were double clear.
Top Eight Results
1 Richard Vogel (Germany) - CARDENTOS - 0/32.44
2 Vaclav Stanek (Czech Republic) - LANGLEY - 0/32.52
3 Mark Bluman (Colombia) - HASTELLA - 0/32.54
4 Katherine Dinan (USA) - DIAMANTINA Z - 0/33.20
5 Della White (USA) - GUCCI - 0/33.37
6 Lisa Goldman-Smolen (USA) - ROMEO B - 0/34.84
7 Ben Maher (Great Britain) - SECRET TREASURE - 0/34.85
8 William Martin (Canada) - VDL MOURINHO - 4/33.42
Photo by Andrew Ryback Photography
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