March 24, 2024 
Jessica Dertell doesn’t always win, but she’s certainly a safe bet to get the job done.
The 19-year-old Australian dressage rider has contested 111 international classes to date and won 64 of them. That’s a 58% win rate.
And not just with one horse.
Since making her international debut in 2018, Dertell has collected FEI victories in the CDIY at CDIU25 divisions on Eskara de Jeu, Gladstone M.H., Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar, and CDI3* and World Cup wins on Cennin and Syriana.
Her latest W: Saturday’s FEI World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle at PSI Dressage & Jumping with the Stars in Werribee, AUS.
Aboard 17-year-old KPWN stallion Cennin, Dertell scored a 74.985% to take a narrow victory over David McKinnon and Estupendo (74.495%). Dertell also took third on Syriana with a 73.365%.
Both horses have been under her saddle for just over two years.
Cennin is Dertell’s most consistent campaigner at the senior level and her most experienced partner.
Previously campaigned by the Netherland’s Madeleine Witte-Vrees, the liver chestnut stallion is a proven championship horse, earning top 10 finishes at the World Cup Finals in Omaha and the European Dressage Championships in Gothenburg in 2017, and at the World Cup Finals in Paris in 2018. He also represented the Dutch flag at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon and was the selected reserve for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
In 2022, Cennin was purchased by Brett and Samantha Thomas of Sabble Farm for then 16-year old Dertell. In their FEI 19 appearances together since, they’ve logged a staggering 13 victories.
Syriana is also a proven Grand Prix contender. Developed at the FEI level by Dertell’s coach, Mary Hanna, the now 18-year-old Westphalian mare represented Australia in the Nations Cup at Aachen in 2022.
Dertell took over the reins in 2023. In 15 international appearances, they’ve only missed the podium once—and topped it nine times.
Dertell is currently ranked no. 10 on the FEI Dressage World Youth Ranking U25. One Australian rider is ranked higher, Kate Kyros who sits in the no. 8 slot.
