Marilyn Little & La Contessa Fly to New Heights in the $500,000 Bainbridge Companies Grand Prix

By Jumper News USA on March 9, 2026

Wellington, United States – March 07, 2026 – From eventing to showjumping, Marilyn Little (USA) has done it all and won at the highest level. Under the shine of Saturday Night Lights at Wellington International during Week 9, she teamed up with La Contessa to a shared second-place finish in the $500,000 Bainbridge Companies Grand Prix CSI 5* from a field that included six of the world’s top 10. WEF hosts 12 weeks of FEI competition—four of which are five-stars—running through March 29, in Wellington, FL.

Clear rounds were not easy to come by over tracks set by Alan Wade (IRL), who has been tapped as the course designer for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. However, nine horses advanced to the tie-breaking jump-off, with riders representing five nations.

**Marilyn Little** (USA) & **La Contessa**

The jump-off pathfinder, Marilyn Little (USA) set the time to beat at 41.92 seconds aboard her own La Contessa, an 11-year-old Mecklenburg mare (License x Cornet’s Prinz).

Six rounds later, Australian Thaisa Erwin (AUS) and her Paris Olympic mount Hialita B matched Little’s footfalls in perfect unison to cross the final timers in a rarely seen dead heat aboard the 14-year-old Dutch-bred mare (Emerald x Vaillant) owned together with Michael Smith. Little and Erwin shared second-place honors on the podium.

Kenny returned as the penultimate challenger aboard Eddy Blue, a 14-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Eldorado vd Zeshoek TN X Chacco-Blue) owned by Carol A Sollak. He used the horse’s massive stride and quickness across the ground to stop the timers at an uncatchable 41.77 seconds.

The Bainbridge Companies Grand Prix was the first five-star grand prix podium finish for Little and La Contessa, however, the pair has jumped clear in their last five five-star grands prix together.

“My goal for this season was to position Contessa as a real competitor at the five-star level and show what she can do,” said Little, who was most recently part of the winning U.S. Nations Cup squad in Wellington. “For her to come out and put in another performance like tonight against this group and a course designer with the technicality and the size that Alan Wade built is a big deal. “She doesn’t have the biggest stride, but she’s smarter than almost any horse I know. She’s probably smarter than most people that I know.

*Podium presentation with 2) **Marilyn Little** (USA), 2) **Thaisa Erwin** (AUS) 1) **Darragh Kenny** (IRL) with the CEO of Bainbridge Companies **Richard Schechter** and his wife Jennifer.*

“I would have loved to have not gone first,” laughed Little. “When you’re going first with a group of riders like this, all you can do is the best you can do.”