Laura Graves and her beautiful Verdades on their way to team brinze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

© Eric Knoll

By Equestrian Life

Laura Graves and Verdades turned in a brilliant performance in the Adequan Global Dressage Festival Grand Prix (CDI5*), scoring 80.080% to take first place.

The pair became only the second Americans — and the 15th combination ever in the history of dressage — to break the 80% barrier. The only other American rider to break 80% was Steffen Peters on the now retired Ravel. Steffen finished second to Laura at this event, scoring 73.820% on his horse Rosamunde.

Now ranked number five in the world, Laura and her 15-year-old KWPN gelding achieved their third straight win in three starts this year. The high comes after winning team bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games.

The CDI5* event was part of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival — a circuit held in Florida that includes seven CDIs over the space of a couple of months.

READ THE LATEST NEWS ARTICLES HERE