April 20, 2026 
The first CCI5* of the year did not disappoint.
Set on the southern coast of Australia, the 2026 edition of the Adelaide Equestrian Festival is the sole five star in the Southern Hemisphere and concurrently held the Oceania Championships at the CCI4*-S and CCI3*-L levels, drawing competitors from Australia and New Zealand.
A brief glance at the entry list hinted at the stories that would unfold.
Madison Seivwright (NZL) and her stalwart 18-year-old campaigner Waitangi Pinterest made their return to the level since their appearance at Pau five years ago.
Andrew Cooper and his Luhmuhlen CCI4*-S third place finisher, Sharvalley Thunder, sought WEG qualification and team consideration.
Three-time Olympian Shane Rose brought a new ride in Holy Moses to the five-star level.
Oliver Barrett, ranked on the FEI Eventing U25 list as #2, brought two homebred horses to his debut at the level.
From the get-go, eyes were on Barrett who opted to take advantage of having qualified and fit horses to contest the five star instead of aiming for the U25 Oceania Championships, held at the CCI3*-L level.
His father, Craig Barrett, had brought a homebred to the 2012 Adelaide CCI5* in Sandhills Brilliare and won it, sparking the dream for a wide eyed eight-year-old Oliver. When his family began Sandhills Stud in New South Wales, a breeding operation that prioritizes bringing the Thoroughbred blood back to eventing, it was always with the goal of returning to the five stars with more homebreds and Adelaide as the premier Australian event.
But the competition began with Madison Seivwright and Waitangi Pinterest in the lead. The pair broke the 30s barrier on a 27.0.
“She was awesome. She’s very professional. She knows her job. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and she gets in there and she listens to everything I say. I’m very pleased with her!” Madison gushed of the mare she saves for “something big.”
“I actually hunted her down many years ago, when she was a 7-year old. I loved her expression going around, and it took me three months of begging my father. I said, we need to look at this little horse. And he said, But why? She’s kind of a small, dark bay, plain. I said, there’s nothing plain about her! There was just something about her expression, and you could tell that she loved her job, and she was a hearty little thing, and she’s been just that amazing.”
Barrett ended dressage day in second position with Sandhills Briar on a solid 30.6.
“I’m really happy with how [Briar] went,” he remarked. “At Adelaide, there’s a whole lot of atmosphere and I was really impressed with the way he coped and stayed with me.”
Cross country day saw a shake up on the leaderboard when five-star first timer Sam Woods and SS Eight Count were one of only two pairs to go double clear on the cross country to take over the lead. Woods rides racehorses (a casual 50 a day) in addition to his high-performance eventers and his fitness and experience galloping worked in his favor on Mike Etherington-Smith’s (GBR) track.
“I definitely left the start box thinking, ‘let’s go for it.’” Woods commented. “It was all on there for offer. I had a fast horse under me, and that was the aim when we left the start box.”
Seivwright and Watangi Pinterest added 6.4 time penalties on a track, so slide into second.
“She’s just an absolute legend. She’s always been so honest. She loves her job, she loves jumping between the flags, and I’ve been very, very lucky that she’s always wanted to be between the flags.”
Last to go on course and the whole division to keep his nerve, Barrett added 4.8 time penalties to bring his total score to 35.4, dropping him from second to third behind Seivwright.
“If you aren’t nervous, you wouldn’t be human,” he laughed when asked. “But I had a plan and it didn’t vary too much from watching other people.”
Only 22 years old, mind you.
That mental fortitude worked in his favor on the final day when David Sheppard’s show jumping track came into play. Coming in cool and collected, he and Sandhills Briar laid down a double clear show jumping round as the third-to-last in.
And then all that was left to do was wait to see how the cards would fall.
Three rails down for Seivwright pushed him up to second place. Just Sam Woods on a horse who had a 50-50 chance based on his last six runs to jump clear.
A rail at the liverpool handed Oliver Barrett the win, the 2026 Adelaide CCI5* championship. His whole family stood at the back gate with him and the celebrations were joyful.
“To be able to do a five star in the first place is a feat in itself and there’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes,” he said. “I’m feeling a combination of elation and relief, its pretty surreal! To have a horse that was started under saddle at Sandhills and produced all the way through, I’ve pretty much ridden him back from when he was a four-year-old and it’s been an amazing journey. We love these horses, and they do so much for us, and we can’t possibly thank them enough.”
The eventing five-star season now heads to Kentucky where another list of contenders hope to make their own dreams come true.
